Symposium 2006

What's for Dinner? Fresh Approaches for Improving Canadians' Eating Habits

Dairy Farmers of Canada recently held their annual symposium “What’s for Dinner? Fresh Approaches for Improving Canadians’ Eating Habits”. The symposium brought together experts in nutrition who shed the light on the most recent data concerning the diet of Canadians.

Several nutrition surveys reveal that the majority of children, adolescents and adults have eating habits that leave room for improvement. For example, the most recent national nutrition survey in Canada has shown that many individuals do not consume the minimum servings recommended daily in each of the four food groups.

Symposium 2006 Presentation Summaries

• What are Canadians eating?

  Maya Villeneuve presented the findings of the 2 wave of the Canadian Community Health Survey — Nutrition, published in 2006. The survey indicates notably that Canadians obtain on average one third of their calories from fat. In addition, a significant proportion of children and...

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• What on earth are we thinking?

  Based on findings from the Tracking Nutrition Trends (TNT) Survey, Mrs. Pillo-Blocka discussed, among other things, the gap that exists between self-perception and actual health status among consumers. For example, many consumers consider themselves knowledgeable in matters of nutrition....

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• Bioavailability: What the “Nutrition Facts” panel doesn’t reveal

  It is well established that the amount of calcium varies from one food to the next. The same applies to calcium absorption. Rafferty’s team has shown that the absorption of tricalcium phosphate, the form of calcium most often used to fortify soy beverages, is only 75% of that of milk...

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• What’s on our kids’ menu?

  Rhonda Hanning presented the latest findings on food group and nutrient intakes, frequency of consumption of key foods and food behaviours for children and adolescents. On average, intakes from the four food groups of Canada’s Food Guide do not, or only barely, satisfy minimum...

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• Healthy eating? What’s stopping us?

  In general, consumers are familiar with the notion of a healthy diet. They know, for example, that it is important to consume sufficient amounts of vegetables and fruits, to choose lean meats and foods low in fat, salt and sugar. However, when the time comes to choose these foods, many...

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• Real advice for the real world

  Mrs. Hayes discussed the importance of clearly communicating nutrition messages to consumers. While dietitians and other health professionals have the nutrition knowledge and scientific background to impart this information, the nutrition messages often get lost in translation. Mrs. Hayes...

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Speakers

• Maya Villeneuve, RD

  Head, Nutrition Survey Section, Nutrition Research Division, Health Canada

• Francy Pillo-Blocka, RD

  President and CEO, Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition

• Karen Rafferty, RD, LMNT

  Research Dietitian, Osteoporosis Research Center, Creighton University Medical Center

• Dayle Hayes, MS, RD

  President, Nutrition for the Future, Inc.

• Hélène Desrosiers

  Project Manager, Direction Santé Québec, Statistical Institute of Quebec

• Réjeanne Gougeon, Ph.D.

  Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University