Nutrition Biomarkers, Cycle 1 - Canadian Health Measures Survey - Food and Nutrition Surveillance - Health Canada

Nutrition biomarkers contribute important information to the assessment of a population’s nutritional status.  Nutrition biomarkers provide information about the level of the nutrient used by the body, as opposed to measures of dietary intake which provide data on the kinds and amount of nutrients consumed, As many nutrients consumed are not 100% absorbed, nutrition biomarkers provide a direct measure of nutritional status.

Cycle 1 of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) included the collection of biomarkers for the following nutrients:

• Folate
• Vitamin B₁₂
• Vitamin D
• Iodine

Statistical Analysis

Descriptive statistics on the concentration of nutrition biomarkers in blood and urine of Canadians, aged 9-79 years, were generated for each Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) age-sex group using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) software (SAS Institute Inc., Version 9.1) and the SUDAAN (SUDAAN Release 10.0) statistical software package. The DRI age-sex group of children age 4-8 years was not included because only children age 6-8 years were sampled. The female age-sex groups include pregnant and lactating women.  The sample weights generated by Statistics Canada were used in the calculation of all estimates so that the results reflect the Canadian population.