Nutrition Policy Reports

Reports and background papers focused on specific issues provide up-to-date evidence and contribute to informing nutrition policy initiatives.

Defining Healthy Foods: International and Canadian scans

Two reports, Defining "Healthy" and "Unhealthy" Foods: An International Review and Defining "Healthy" Foods: Environmental Scan of the Situation in Canada were completed in 2009. These reports look at current national and international initiatives to define nutrient criteria for "healthy and unhealthy food" and the applications in which the criteria are used, e.g. on front-of-package labelling, marketing of food and beverages to children, and school food guidelines.

1. Executive Summary: Defining "Healthy" and "Unhealthy" Foods: An International Review
2. Executive Summary: Defining "Healthy" Foods: Environmental Scan of the Situation in Canada

The opinions expressed in these publications are solely those of the authors and should not be attributed to Health Canada or the Government of Canada.

To receive copies of the full reports, please contact Publications.

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.

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.