Health Canada Approaches to Population Health Nutrition Flashcards
How many adults and children are overweight/obese in Canada?
Adults: 2/3
Children: 1/3
How much money does obesity cost annually?
4.6 - 7.1 billion
Name 4 reasons that make healthy choices difficult for Canadians.
1) Fast food is widespread
2) Conflicting messages
3) Marketing and kids is powerful
4) Trouble understanding information on labels
Name the 4 people that share the responsibility of healthy eating.
Government, Industry, Health Intermediaries, Individuals
What are the roles of Health Canada?
- Establishes food safety policy and standards
- Assesses the effectiveness of CFIA’s food safety activities
- Conducts health risk assessments in support of food safety investigations
- Informs Canadians about potential risks to their Health
How does Health Canada promote healthy eating?
- Dietary recommendations
- Nutrition labelling and claims
- Public education
- Premarket Evaluation
- Nutrition Research
What regulates food safety, composition, labelling and advertising?
Food and Drugs Act and Regulations
What are the 4 current activities in Health Canada?
Trans fat, sodium, nutrition labelling, Canada’s Food Guide review
What is the new minister of health committed to?
- Eliminating trans fats
- Reducing sodium
- New food labels
- Restrictions on marketing to children
- Expand the Nutrition North program
What does the consumption of trans fat increase?
risk of coronary heart disease
Where does most trans fat come from?
partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs)
How has HC pursued trans fat reduction?
- Mandatory declaration of TF on labels
- Margarines not to exceed 2% of total fat
- Active monitoring, request for data on current uses of PHOs (in what, how much, why are they used?)
What has the US revoked in terms of trans fat?
the GRAS status of PHOs
How has the food supply improved in terms of trans fat?
2009: 75% meets target
2011: 97% meets target
Which population groups eat more TFs?
- Kids + teens
- Canadians in remote areas
- Poor people
How many Canadians have hypertension?
2 million
What is hypertension a risk for?
stroke, heart and kidney disease
What is the average intake of salt/d in Canada? What is the UL?
UL: 2300 mg/d
Intake avg: 3400 mg/d
What are the sources of sodium and their percentages?
- Processed foods (77%)
- Naturally occurring (12%)
- Discretionary (11%)
What does the expert sodium working group (SWG) recommend by the end of 2016?
Reduce sodium intakes to 2300 mg/d
- Education
- Voluntary reduction and food supply
- Monitoring
What does HC suggest in terms of the new food label?
- Consistent serving sizes
- % DV of sugars
- Increased size of calories
- Nutrients that provide calories are listed together
- Sodium is moved closer to potassium
- Vit A and C are removed, potassium is added
- Quick rule (5% is less, 15% is a lot, is added)
What does the HC suggest in terms of the ingredients?
Increased legibility
No Caps, and dots instead of commas
What does HC aim for the new food labelling?
Aiming for Canada Gazette II by the end of 2016
Why is Canada changing its food guide?
• To reflect the latest scientific evidence on diet and health
• To better support Canadians, including indigenous peoples, in
making healthy food choices
