Grant: Operating Grant: CCHS - Nutrition Analysis

Type 2 diabetes among Indigenous populations in Canada is a significant public health concern. Obesity, diet quality, and food security are considered important contributors to disparities in diabetes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. The federal government has recently pledged to address the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, which includes ongoing monitoring of health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. We propose to investigate obesity, diet quality, and food security, which are important aspects of these health disparities. The proposed study will utilize Statistics Canada data from the Canadian Community Health Survey Nutrition surveys in 2004 and 2015. Both surveys include representative samples of the Canadian population for each time period, excluding First Nations people on-reserve and the northern territories. We aim to describe rates of obesity, diet quality, and rates of food insecurity for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children and adults in 2004 and 2015, respectively. Secondly, we aim to test for differences in these rates between 2004 and 2015 to determine whether the gap in obesity, diet quality, and food security between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations has narrowed over time. The results will provide evidence of the broad effectiveness that many regional food- and income-based policies have had on obesity, diet quality, and food security among the off-reserve Indigenous population and inform future policy development; for example, minimum guaranteed income. Findings will also indicate the degree of difference in obesity and diet quality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations that is attributed to food insecurity and socioeconomic factors. The study will also contribute towards creating measurable goals to close the gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.