Nutrition

A comprehensive approach is needed to address Canada’s food insecurity crisis

Food insecurity impacts nearly 7 million Canadians. There may not be a single “best” approach to addressing household food insecurity, but it is time for a more comprehensive approach to one of our most complex and urgent societal problems.

Naturopathic doctors: Underutilized partners in public health and primary care

Naturopathic doctors (NDs) have an important role to play in the health-care system. We need a pilot project to assess the viability of ND integration into team-based primary care models.

‘This place keeps me fed’: Langars coping with surge in users

Much like food banks, across Canada Sikh gurdwaras have been feeding an ever-growing number of people in recent years.

Mushrooms, nuts and collard greens: Nutrition and how to lower the odds of breast cancer

Breast cancer is the product of many factors over a lifetime. While some of those factors are out of our control, others like diet offer opportunities to mitigate risk.

Navigating the digital sea of beauty: Empowering Canadians through media literacy for positive body image and public health

Body-image concerns have soared with the constant exposure to digitally altered and idealized portrayals of beauty. Media literacy is a critical tool in dismantling the harmful impact of such imagery and thoughts.

Breast-milk donor models are flawed: A path forward to meet demand

The three main institutions vying for breast-milk donations have demonstrated an unwillingness to collaborate with one another. As demand for donor milk increases, the downstream effects are going to be felt most by parents and their infants.

Food prescriptions – a short-sighted response to food insecurity

Food insecurity can increase the risk of a number of adverse health outcomes. Food-prescription programs are one way that health-care providers are trying to mitigate the hardships they witness, but it's barely scratching the surface.

Diet vs. drugs – Comparing the effects of diet with leading pharmaceuticals

In 440 B.C., Hippocrates famously said “Let food be thy medicine.” More than 2,000 years later, the evidence to substantiate this statement has never been more robust.

Newfoundland and Labrador first province to impose a sugar tax to combat obesity and diabetes. Will it work?

Newfoundland and Labrador is the first Canadian province to join the international beverage sugar-tax club. This effort aims to combat the "growing and silent epidemic" of diabetes impacting more than 11.7 million Canadians.

Food and mental health: Happy gut, happy mind

The food we eat every day is the subject of an ongoing conversation between the bacteria in our gut and our immune cells. This conversation dictates whether we are taking one step closer to health or one step closer to disease.

We all know about anorexia, but can we talk a bit about Binge Eating Disorder?

Binge Eating Disorder, or BED, is at least as common – though probably more common – than any other eating disorder but it often goes under-reported and under-recognized. People living with BED deserve a compassionate representation, along with appropriate, accessible and trauma-informed treatment and support.

The war raging in your body: These little-known immune cells may prevent severe COVID

Infectious diseases were once the greatest threat to human survival. Today it is not necessarily the infection itself but rather the immune system’s response to the infection that dictates the survival of the fittest.

Episode 45 – Preventative Medicine: the Mediterranean Diet and the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder

To tackle food insecurity, school adds hunting and fishing to reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic

Faced with rampant food insecurity in the Eel Ground First Nation, New Brunswick, one elementary school principal started the Kelulk Mijipjewe food program to provide nutritious meals and teach students about Indigenous food culture.

‘As a matter of policy, kids were hungry in residential schools’: The dark history of Canada’s food guide

Canada's Food Guide has its roots in controversial experiments conducted on Indigenous children and adults in the 1940's and 50's.

Episode 35 – Preventative Health: Smoking Cessation and Olive Oil

Nunavut struggling with crisis that ‘won’t go away’

Food insecurity in Nunavut has been called “among the longest-lasting public health crises faced by a Canadian population.”

Students the driving force behind innovative food-share program

Food insecurity has increased during COVID-19, even as lots of food is wasted in Canada. MealCare is addressing both problems by diverting surplus food from grocery stores, cafeterias and caterers to homeless shelters, food banks and soup kitchens.

Promoting your heart health promotes your brain health

Every five minutes, heart disease, stroke and related conditions take a life in Canada. However, 80 per cent of premature heart disease and stroke is preventable. Here's how to avoid these debilitating conditions.

When it comes to breastfeeding, we should practice what we preach

As medical professionals, we encourage breastfeeding in our patients, so why do hospitals make it so hard to breastfeed at work?