Nutrition

Food policy councils are voluntary bodies made up of stakeholders from across the food system collaborating to find practical solutions to the challenges presented by the food systems on a local and national level. The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy published this briefing note conceived by Wendy Mendes to familiarize public health actors with the food system concerns and the contribution of the food policy councils in the formulation of healthy food policies.

Obesity's increasing prevalence is of concern because of its impacts on the population health and its associated costs. To promote healthy public policies, this scientific advisory documents the influence of economy-based agri-food policies that can affect the population's diet and weight. To this end, the following economic measures are reviewed: agricultural subsidies, trade policies, agricultural research and development programs, agricultural promotion programs, agricultural initiatives…

This document is a summary version of the report, Public Policies on Nutrition Labelling: Effects and Implementation Issues – A Knowledge Synthesis, produced by the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP). For readers who would like to learn more about the knowledge synthesis method used as well as the knowledge gathered and the full bibliographic references, we invite you to consult the full report.

Nutrition labelling on pre-packaged foods and on…

We gathered data from the scientific and grey literature and from Canadian actors involved in addressing obesity to document the effectiveness of nutrition-labelling policies, as well as their unintended effects, equity, cost, feasibility, and acceptability. Presented here is a broad outline of the results.

The nutrition-labelling policies studied target pre-packaged foods or restaurant menus, and require them to display nutrition information either in a detailed format (Nutrition…

The goal of the St. Lawrence Food Guide is to communicate information on aquatic resources of the St. Lawrence. This guide concerns commercial species of fish, mollusk and crustacean from the St. Lawrence river, estuary and gulf which are sold in Québec' s supermarkets and fisheries. The food guide gives information on nutritional and organoleptic qualities of these species. Also, a delicious recipe, easy to prepare, is presented for each species.

The built environment has an influence on lifestyle and body weight

Physical activity is promoted through:

Healthy eating is promoted through:

Background and Objective Over the past few years, excess weight has become one of the most troubling public health problems. Globally, organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have described the current situation as epidemic. Factors that can explain this trend are linked to complex interactions between individual characteristics and environmental aspects. The built environment and the services environment are elements that can influence individuals'…

In Québec, nearly one in five children suffers from excess weight and the situation has greatly deteriorated over the past 25 years. This situation results from a large number of individual and environmental factors, including the food environment around schools. In the United States, a number of studies have documented the substantial presence of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores around schools. These types of food outlets are also more numerous around schools in…

This abstract offers highlight of a knowledge synthesis on the implementation process for policies, programs or measures favourable to healthy eating in the schools. The data reported concerns schools at the elementary and secondary levels. The synthesis reveals a portrait of the favourable factors and obstacles to implementing school food policies, as well as describing a systematic approach to maximize the chances of success of this implementation. This knowledge will be useful to any…

The survey was conducted during the summer of 2003 using a representative sample of residents aged 12 and older from the nine communities in Iiyiyiu Aschii: Chisasibi, Eastmain, Mistissini, Nemaska, Oujé- Bougoumou, Waskaganish, Waswanipi, Wemindji, and Whapmagoostui.

Food habits