Nutrition Policy Reports

Evidence-based policies and programs that support healthy eating and enhance population health require relevant and current research and the capacity to measure progress and outcomes.

Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion (ONPP) work in this area is anchored by Nutrition for Health: An Agenda for Action, Canada's national plan of action for nutrition, which is intended to stimulate widespread action across sectors in mutually supportive directions, creating momentum and positive results for nutritional health.

Reports and background papers focused on specific issues, including implementation of dietary guidance and food and nutrition surveillance in Canada provide up-to-date evidence and inform current initiatives.

Discussion Paper on Household and Individual Food Insecurity
This paper presents an examination of issues pertaining to the inclusion of direct and indirect indicators of food insecurity in a national nutrition monitoring system, focussing on individual- and household-level food insecurity that arises in the context of financial resource constraints.

Nutrition for Health: An Agenda for Action
This report is intended to aid integration of nutrition considerations into health, agriculture, education, social and economic policies and programs. It can be used by communities and organizations to develop plans specific to their needs and capacities.

Several activities have been undertaken to provide background information and set direction in the development of the National Plan of Action for Nutrition for Canada. The following documents have resulted:

• Backgrounder to the National Plan of Action for Nutrition
• Environmental Scan
• Summary of Regional Think Tanks
• Nutrition in Action Survey
• Food Quality and Safety Programs in Canada
• Prevention and Management of Infectious Diseases
• Nutrition Status Assessment, Analysis and Monitoring
• Country Paper Canada Supplement

For more information on these documents, please contact the Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion.

Building Partnerships for Health: Lessons Learned
The 1996 report Nutrition for Health: An Agenda for Action was the product of an intense process of collaboration among government departments, non-government organizations and the private sector. This report examines the lessons learned to help others who are attempting to build partnerships to advance health.

Guiding Canadians Towards Healthy Eating - National Nutrition Leadership
Promoting healthy and nutritious eating habits among Canadians has been a priority in Canada over many years. As knowledge of the role of nutrition in health has expanded, dietary advice to consumers has evolved.

Action Towards Healthy Eating - Canada's Guidelines for Healthy Eating and Recommended Strategies for Implementation
This report from the Communications/Implementation Committee presents comprehensive strategies for communicating and implementing the nutrition recommendations of the Scientific Review Committee (SRC). It includes a plainer language version of the updated nutrition recommendations for communication with the Canadian public.

Canadian Journal of Public Health Special Supplement Understanding the Forces that Influence Our Eating Habits: What We Know and Need to Know
A series of articles, commissioned by the Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion and published in a special supplement to the Canadian Journal of Public Health (CJPH), summarize existing literature on the determinants of healthy eating, identify gaps in knowledge and offer recommendations for research to enhance the evidence base on the determinants of healthy eating.