Canadians may be eating even more salt
The amount of salt consumed by Canadians may be much higher than previously thought, a confidential government study suggests.
The 24-hour urine test, involving 344 adults ages 40 to 69 and living in Eastern Ontario, found an average of 6,014 milligrams of sodium consumed per person per day, according to a summary of the 2010 study prepared by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The report, obtained by Postmedia News, calls urinary sodium surveys the “gold standard” for population-based studies of dietary sodium, although concerns have been raised about the limited number of people in this specific study.
The findings show levels well above the estimated consumption benchmark used by Health Canada as part of its strategy to try to reduce daily sodium intake to 2,300 mg by 2016.
Relying on Statistics Canada’s 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey, for which people self-reported their dietary intake, the department says the average Canadian consumes about 3,400 mg per day.
Health Canada’s recommended daily intake of sodium is much lower, however: 1,500 mg. High levels of sodium are linked with hypertension and other chronic diseases.
The 2010 small urine study involved adults in the Ottawa area and nearby cities of Cornwall, Madawaska, Pembroke and Petawawa, and was conducted by PHAC in collaboration with the Champlain Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Network. Its findings could signal even more aggressive action will be needed to meet sodium targets – even as Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq backs away from key parts of a sodium reduction strategy commissioned by the federal government.
That strategy, also released in July 2010, was developed by a panel of experts convened by the government to devise a way to reduce the amount of salt Canadians are consuming, of which an estimated 80 per cent comes from processed foods.
Aglukkaq disbanded the Sodium Working Group in December 2010 before it could set up a monitoring system to track industry progress over a five-year period.
Last fall, she also rejected a monitoring plan developed by federal and provincial officials and modelled on the working group’s monitoring recommendation.
Aglukkaq objected to the plan because it would have outed food companies for failing to meet specific sodium-reduction targets for individual products, and called for regulations to be considered if voluntary measures fail.
In a statement, PHAC said the Champlain Study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of measuring dietary sodium levels by collecting 24-hour urine samples from a small sample of volunteers in Eastern Ontario.
“Accordingly, results do not represent sodium consumption across Canada.”
The agency also declined to provide the full study, saying the “findings have been analyzed, and will be published after they have successfully undergone peer review.”
A scientist familiar with the study and with expertise in the area said he doesn’t trust the data because of the small pickup rate, but added that doesn’t mean the data are wrong.