Canada's Food guide has been in place since 1942, it has required updates several times — the last one in 2007 — to reflect the changing lifestyles of Canadians. Gone are the days of a stay-at-home mom preparing dinners replete with steaming vegetables, meat and a full glass of milk.
Instead, according to the latest information from Statistics Canada 69 per cent of households with families were dual-earners. This has had clear consequences when it comes to eating.
According to Health Canada, four out of five Canadians risk developing cancer, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and a plethora of other health issues as a result of unhealthy eating. And the cause of obesity and other chronic conditions can be linked directly to poor eating habits, which in turn can put a considerable burden on the health care system, with some estimates about 5 Billion annually.
The changes, Health Canada said, is part of an effort to improve the eating habits of Canadians and make the food guide more accessible and easier to understand
The Food Guide revision will include an Online Consultation on Health Canada’s website with health professionals and everyday Canadians until Dec. 8.
Federal Health Minister Hon Jane Philpott said the Healthy Canada strategy has three pillars:
· Healthy eating, including the updated food guide and new labelling and marketing rules.
· Healthy living, including promotion of physical activity and fitness and new rules to deter smoking and vaping.
· Healthy minds, including new initiatives to improve mental health.
The federal Health Department aims to have updated dietary guidelines by the end of 2018 that will reflect the most up-to-date scientific evidence on diet and health.
Other initiatives include updated nutrition labels on pre-packaged foods and restricting marketing to children under 12 years of Age
Philpott said Quebec has had important legislation in place against marketing and advertising to children and that the federal government will draw on that as inspiration.
“There’s evidence that children in Quebec have less consumption of fast foods, for example,” Philpott said. “We are now going to be looking at legislation and regulations at the federal level that will restrict the marketing of unhealthy foods to kids.”
Philpott said the government is also following international efforts on a sugary drinks but has not made any suggestion to improve implement Sugar Tax yet
