Development of a screening method for determining sodium intake based on the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese, 2020: A cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Survey, Japan.

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough assessing nutrient intake through dietary surveys is desirable, it can be effort- and time-intensive. We aimed to develop a brief screening method for determining sodium intake in order to raise public awareness regarding the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese (DRI-J) 2020.MethodsUsing data from the 2015 National Health and Nutrition Survey, we compared dietary behaviours obtained from a self-administered questionnaire according to sodium intake, which was assessed from one-day dietary records by a semi-weighed method. Participants were divided into 4 groups based on the reference values of sodium (salt equivalent) shown in the DRI-J. We also randomly divided the participants into development and validation groups, and used logistic regression analysis to identify predictive factors for sex-specific DRI-J (ResultsAmong the 6,172 Japanese individuals aged ≥20 years old, participants with lower sodium intake were found to use nutrition labels and had a lower frequency of eating out than those with higher intakes (P for difference ConclusionsThis method could easily identify sodium intake using dietary behaviours and specific food consumption, and is expected to be widely useful for health and nutrition education in Japan.