ÖŰżÚζSM nutritional scientists are leading a study with national experts calling on the Canadian government to outlaw junk food marketing to children, impose stricter limits on unhealthy nutrients added to foods, and impose a âsugary drink tax.â
Professor Mary LâAbbĂ©, chair of the department of nutritional sciences in the Faculty of Medicine, and Banting postdoctoral fellow Lana Vanderlee , called the Food-EPI Study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. In it, they examined Canadaâs progress on obesity-curbing measures compared with other countries.
They found that Canada performed well on some important measures, such as political leadership to support healthy eating, and transparency in developing food policies, which if secretive can lead to undue influence by the food industry.
Health Canada has recently announced new policies for some important areas where Canada trails its peers. But in many areas, the authors say Canada still has work to do â for example, setting policies in retail stores and restaurants to help provide and market healthier foods, where there are almost no policies or programs at any level of government.
Despite the good news, there were notable disparities between provinces, with Quebec having the most progressive food policies, including a restriction of junk-food marketing to children, and some other provinces failing to do as much to protect residents. Even the foods and drinks that can be sold in schools varied across provinces and territories. Overall, Ontario fared roughly in the middle of the pack.
âEven if weâre meeting best practices in some areas, we shouldnât get complacent,â says Vanderlee (left). âCanada doesnât have taxes on unhealthy foods, such as sugary drinks, even though the evidence from other countries suggests these work. If we donât move on this front, weâre going to fall behind.â
Mexico, which has some of the worldâs highest child obesity rates, is seeing success with a soda tax, and other countries are following suit, she says. The U.K. is on the verge of implementing such a tax, and South Africa just announced one.
âMost of the evidence indicates that sugary drinks are the biggest contributors to sugar consumption and play an important role in weight gain,â she says. âYou donât get as full when youâre drinking your calories and itâs easy to consume a lot of sugar in a short time.â
The federal government imposes no restrictions on marketing junk food to children, LâAbbĂ© says, although they have announced impending regulations as part of the Healthy Eating Strategy.
âWe know that marketing to kids changes what they want to eat and what theyâre asking their parents to buy. And we know that it is the unhealthy foods that are the most heavily marketed to children,â she says.
Asking for voluntary industry co-operation to make foods healthier, with less sodium, hasnât worked well in the past for all foods, she says. The Canadian government hasnât made any voluntary or mandatory restrictions on the amount of sugar or saturated fat in foods either, nor have officials set any targets for levels in restaurant foods.
âThe evidence is mounting that these kinds of government interventions work,â says Vanderlee. âBut we know no individual policy is a silver bullet. Thatâs why Canada needs a comprehensive and co-ordinated strategy if we want to move the dial on obesity and diet-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer and keep up with international leaders.â