Can Trudeau make Canada healthier?

Sixteen of Canada’s largest food companies including Nestle, Kraft and McDonald’s have already joined together under the “Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.” These companies have pledged either not to advertise directly to school aged children, or to only market “healthier” products to them.

However, these voluntary guidelines are established in part by a committee of dietitians and nutritionists employed by the companies themselves. Under their criteria, “occasional snacks” such as chips can still be advertised to children, as long as the labeled serving size includes 8 grams of whole grain or 2 grams of fibre.

For decades, Quebec has enforced much stricter laws limiting marketing to children, including online “adver-gaming” – interactive games that promote products – and printed ads.

“The law isn’t perfect but it’s much better,” says Chaput, “you don’t want to see, say, Shrek drinking a coke. That sends a bad message to kids.”

But Mendelson says regulating children’s advertising in Canada may be challenging. “Children will still see US advertisers,” she says, “and of course Quebec has an easier time because of French-language TV.”

A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that a two per cent increase in trans fats consumption results in a 23 per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease.

Last year, the United States Food and Drug Administration ruled that artificial trans fats were not “generally recognized as safe” and implemented a ban on the use of trans trans fats as an ingredient.

Health advocates in Canada have appealed for a similar ban for more than a decade. To date the government has relied on voluntary restrictions introduced by food manufacturers.

Chaput says the benefit of a ban would be in reducing the harmful effects of unhealthy foods.

“So people don’t change their eating habits, but by default it will become healthier.”

While the Canadian government has previously  proposed voluntary restrictions and education, the Heart and Stroke Foundation reports the average Canadian consumes almost twice the recommended amount of sodium per day, putting them at risk for hypertension and heart disease.

Other countries such as Argentina or Finland, which established various mandatory restrictions on sodium, may inspire Canada’s approach. If the government won’t impose mandatory restrictions, improved labeling laws may be more effective than voluntary agreements.

“People see labels that say things like ‘less salt,’” says Chaput, “they make it look like a healthy option but it’s still unhealthy.”

From bilingual packaging to a host of product-specific requirements and nutritional facts, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has already established a long list of labeling requirements.

Mendelson is wary about the benefits of additional regulations, or if they will simply be the government’s way of “dumping responsibility on the food industry.”

“Most people already don’t use labels effectively,” she told me, “what we need is more education for the public.”

Chaput recommends a simpler system, like stop-light coloured stickers on box-fronts.

“Green is healthy, red is less healthy.  It becomes easy to read,” he says, “Most people don’t even know what’s a protein or a carbohydrate.”