Grant: Health System Impact Fellowships - PostDoc Central Canada 2 year

Understanding the foods and beverages that Canadians consume is important for preventing chronic disease and promoting health and well-being. Currently, data on consumption of foods and beverages and eating behaviour in Canada are collected at distant time points, almost 10 years apart. This data provides a limited snapshot for government to make decisions about nutrition policy and programming. One of the Public Health Agency of Canada's main activities is to monitor and report on the state of health and health behaviours among Canadians. Currently, the Agency provides information on the amount of fruits and vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages consumed. The Agency has an opportunity to update these measures to include monitoring of a range of food and nutrition behaviours, for example, using nutrition labelling to help make food purchases. Further, current research suggests that behaviours are affected by physical and social environments (food environment) and policies that influence the sustainability of the food supply (food system). However, a comprehensive framework of measures that includes food environments and food systems currently does not exist for Canada. The proposed work will identify existing questionnaires and assessments used at global, federal, provincial, and territorial levels to measure food and nutrition behaviour, food environments, and food systems. We will search current literature and work with partners across Canada to develop a framework for food and nutrition measures that will be integrated into the Agency's national surveillance strategy. We will also survey a range of audiences and collaborators from government, non-profit organizations, policymakers, and researchers to develop a strategy for communicating the framework. The proposed work will improve the health of Canadians and the health system by providing ongoing monitoring of food and nutrition in Canada to inform policy and programming decisions.