Grant: Tm Gr.:Embr. Diversity to Achieve Precision/Health Equity-Nutrition/Meta. Health

Black people in Canada face health inequities. A major factor related to these health inequities is nutritional status. To address health inequities, we seek to characterize nutrition and metabolic health to effectively prevent, detect, and intervene in terms of disease susceptibility, progression, resilience, reversibility, and treatment strategies for diseases and conditions among Black people in Canada. We will set up an advisory committee of around 10 members of the Black community, including persons with lived experience of nutrition/ metabolic conditions who will meet every three months to inform our process. Next, we will conduct a comprehensive review of the literature on Black people's health in Canada. We will also analyze the Canadian Community Health Survey to examine whether differences exist between Black and White people as well as the association of social determinants of health with the nutritional and metabolic status of Black Canadians. Our analysis of the Canadian Health Measures Survey, which includes physiological measures from blood tests, will enable us to examine the association of social determinants with nutritional status and health outcomes of Black Canadians across the life span. Combined, this information will enable us to develop and complete a national survey of around 800 Black people in Canada. For the national survey, we will collect data on demographic variables, self report on health status, food recall, and physical activity using a tracker. Finally, we will engage Black communities in individual and group discussions to reflect on the data and co-develop recommendations. Our project will be completed in collaboration with the largest health centre for Black people in Canada (Taibu Community Health Centre) and the Public Health Agency of Canada. We will also mobilize knowledge through annual stakeholder engagement days and guidance documents on nutrition among Black people.