The Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) supports the federal Health Minister Jane Philpott’s announcement today of a Healthy Eating Strategy.
“We’re happy to see many initiatives in this comprehensive strategy that we’ve been advocating, such as revising Canada’s Food Guide, improving nutrition labelling and restricting food and beverage marketing to children,” says Dr. Jan Hux, CDA Chief Science Officer. “Healthy eating is key to healthy living and we want to see policies introduced that make the healthy choice the easy choice.”
Dr. Hux continued: “Nevertheless, the government’s timeline of five to ten years to consult and implement marketing restrictions to children is far too long. The evidence speaks for itself. These changes will benefit the health of our children. The time to act is now.”
Healthy eating is vital to maintain a healthy weight and avoid being overweight or obese – risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, 60 per cent of adult Canadians and one-third of children are either overweight or obese. Type 2 diabetes is appearing in children – unheard of several decades ago.
With another case of diabetes being diagnosed in Canada every three minutes, Canada urgently needs the Healthy Eating Strategy.