Grant: Project Grant

Most Canadians do not consume diets that align with health recommendations. As a result, poor diet is among the leading causes of chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes in Canada. The environment where people live, work and play is increasingly recognized as an important factor shaping dietary intake, and is potentially modifiable. However, in order to drive meaningful improvements in the dietary intake of Canadians, we need to gain a better understanding of how environments support healthy eating. The aims of this project are to 1) describe how dietary intake is linked with aspects of the food environment like how accessible healthy foods are within communities, provinces and across Canada, 2) examine how links between dietary intake and the food environment group with other environmental factors like how walkable a neighbourhood is and factors known to influence chronic disease risk such as physical activity, income and education. To accomplish these aims, we will collect data on diet, physical activity and other health factors with user-friendly online tools in a large study of men and women across 8 provinces; the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project (CanPath) and connect with NutriQuébec, an ongoing cohort collecting similar data. CanPath and NutriQuébec, are linked to nation-wide environment data including measures of the food, social and built environments, creating a rich data source to explore our novel research questions. This study will contribute critical evidence that may help support approaches to improve the dietary intake of Canadians.