One Out of Two Canadians Eating Incomplete Diets
Canadians need to eat more of some foods and less of others suggests a new nutrition report, “Food Habits of Canadians: Changing Nutrition Issues,” released this week.
This change in nutrition priorities, away from fat reduction, comes as a result of a national nutrition study which found that half of all teenage girls and more than one in four Canadian adults are not eating adequate amounts of certain kinds of foods.
“Over the past 30 years we have focused on reducing fat,” says Laura Pasut, dietitian and author of the report. “But now that average fat intake is close to recommended levels at 30 per cent of calories, we need to refocus on the foods that people are not eating in adequate amounts.”
Using the minimum recommendations in “Canada’s Food Guide to Health Eating” as a benchmark, the report states that:
· almost half of adult women and 60 per cent of female teens do not eat enough servings of Meat and Alternatives
· more than half of all females and almost half the males are not consuming enough Milk Products
· Vegetable and Fruit intakes are low in about half of teen and adult diets.
· over 40 per cent of female teens and 30 per cent of male teens and adults are not eating the minimum recommended servings of Grain Products daily.
While many Canadians are not eating enough from the four key Food Groups, they are eating too much of other non-essential foods. One-third of calories and fat come from the “Other Food” category – items such as pop, candy, chocolate bars and snack foods.
Pasut, who is president of Nutridata Consulting, a firm that provides nutrition research and education advice to government and industry, says that with these unbalanced diets come risks of nutrient deficiencies, particularly for calcium, folate, iron and zinc.
The report, which compares nutrient intake data from a recent national study by McGill researchers with current nutrient recommendations, finds that the diets of many teen and adult women are low in calcium and iron. These are the key nutrients in the missing foods – milk products and meats.
For men and teenage boys, the main problem is folate, a nutrient found in green vegetables. Some men are also low in zinc intake, a nutrient in meat.
While energy intakes are now lower than 30 years ago and many people’s diets are inadequate in certain nutrients, obesity is on the rise in Canada.
“Obesity can be the result of too little activity as well as from overeating,” says Pasut. “When health professionals advise individuals to eat fewer calories or less fat, they should be very specific. There is plenty of room to cut back on the extra, non-essential foods. People should not be curtailing their intake of essential foods, such as meat, milk or fruits and vegetables. As the research shows, in many cases they may need to eat more of these foods.”
The report, “Food Habits of Canadians: Changing Nutrition Issues” is being sent to dietitians and health educators to stimulate thinking and discussion on new nutrition priorities. Its publication was supported by a grant from the Beef Industry Development Fund, a joint government and industry initiative. The research studies quoted in the report were all independent studies, recently completed at universities across Canada.
Health professionals and teachers of nutrition at the senior high school, college or university level can request a copy of the report by emailing [email protected].
