It made it possible to improve people's lives. Now it prevents all forms of discrimination in the world. It helps to improve our world.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

he revised English edition of this book tlie T original Swcdisli cdition. without tlie subtitle. is froni 1997 should be considered :is i111 important contribution to sociology and social science in general to tlie extent tliat it is a clear and wcll-structured introduction to critical i-disrri, one of the most rccent and vigorous theoretical streams in the field of thc social scicnces. if we take into coiisidcration tlic influential work of hlargaret t\\rclier (1995: Realist Socinl Tlicory: Tlic I\\loriJlio!gciicti(’

Explaining Society, Critical Realism in the Social Sciences:

Almost 2 billion adults in the world are overweight, and more than half of them are classified as obese, while nearly one-third of children globally experience poor growth and development. Given th...

Developmental origins of metabolic diseases.

Canada's Food Guide (CFG) recommends choosing foods lower in fat, sugar and salt and provides guidance to choose foods lower in added sugars. Added sugar levels in CFG's dietary patterns have never been estimated. Objectives: Estimate the proportion of calories coming from added and free sugars in CFG's dietary patterns; and assess these results against the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance on sugars. Methods: Sugar-containing foods were assigned to 3 categories: a) naturally occurring sugars source b) added sugars source or, c) free sugars source. Secondly, we simulated 8000 diets (500 for each age/sex group) consistent with CFG's dietary patterns and estimated their sugars content. Specifically, the grams of total sugars of a food having only naturally-occurring sugars were all counted as naturally occurring sugars; the grams of total sugars of foods containing a mix of naturally occurring sugars and added or free sugars were all counted as added sugars and/or as free sugars. [This conservative m...

Estimating the Sugars Content of Simulated Diets that Follow Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide

Consumers are shifting towards plant-based diets, driven by both environmental and health reasons. This has led to the development of new plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) that are marketed as being sustainable and good for health. However, it remains unclear whether these novel PBMAs to replace animal foods carry the same established nutritional benefits as traditional plant-based diets based on pulses, legumes and vegetables. We modelled a reference omnivore diet using NHANES 2017–2018 data and compared it to diets that substituted animal products in the reference diet with either traditional or novel plant-based foods to create flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan diets matched for calories and macronutrients. With the exception of the traditional vegan diet, all diets with traditional plant-based substitutes met daily requirements for calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, iron and Vitamin B12 and were lower in saturated fat, sodium and sugar than the reference diet. Diets based on novel plant-based substitutes were below daily requirements for calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc and Vitamin B12 and exceeded the reference diet for saturated fat, sodium and sugar. Much of the recent focus has been on protein quality and quantity, but our case study highlights the risk of unintentionally increasing undesirable nutrients while reducing the overall nutrient density of the diet when less healthy plant-based substitutes are selected. Opportunities exist for PBMA producers to enhance the nutrient profile and diversify the format of future plant-based foods that are marketed as healthy, sustainable alternatives to animal-based products.

Unintended Consequences: Nutritional Impact and Potential Pitfalls of Switching from Animal- to Plant-Based Foods.

There are knowledge gaps in our understanding of the development of chronic disease risks in children, especially with regard to the risk differentials experienced by immigrants and refugees. The H...

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Chronic health disparities among refugee and immigrant children in Canada.

Food insecurity continues to persist among vulnerable groups in Canada, including newcomer families. This mixed-methods study uses an exploratory sequential design to characterize the food security status of newcomer families with children aged 3–13 years. Parents completed food security and 24-hour dietary recall questionnaires, and parents and service providers were interviewed to explore their food insecurity experiences. Fifty percent of participant households experienced food insecurity, while 41% of children were food insecure. More recent newcomer families, and families with parents that had completed high school or some years of postsecondary training, more commonly experienced household food insecurity, compared to families with parents without high school diplomas or those with university degrees. Food-insecure children aged 4–8 years were at higher risk of consuming a lower proportion of energy from protein, lower servings of milk products, and inadequate intakes of vitamin B12 and calcium. Participants identified changes in food buying habits due to low income, using food budgets to purchase prescription drugs and to repay transportation loans, while the school food environment impacted children’s food security. Food security initiatives targeting newcomers may benefit from building on the strengths of newcomers, including traditional dietary practices and willingness to engage in capacity-building programming.

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/8/1744/pdf

Food Insecurity and Nutritional Risk among Canadian Newcomer Children in Saskatchewan.

Adequate calcium intake and supply of vitamin D during childhood play important roles in ensuring adequate bone mass gain to achieve optimal peak bone mass. The Healthy Immigrant Children study emp...

/pdf/canadian-newcomer-children-s-bone-health-and-vitamin-d-pakjva0sd3.pdf

Canadian newcomer children's bone health and vitamin D status

Objective To explore the dietary habits, nutrient adequacies and dietary change experiences of immigrant and refugee children. Design Mixed-methods cross-sectional design. Children completed three 24 h dietary recalls to determine nutrient inadequacies. Parents and service providers were interviewed to capture dietary practices. Setting Healthy Immigrant Children study, Saskatchewan, Canada. Participants Three hundred immigrant and refugee children aged 3-13 years and twenty-two parents who lived in Regina or Saskatoon for less than 5 years; twenty-four newcomer services providers. Results Immigrant children had higher mean intakes of meat and alternatives, milk and alternatives, and whole grains; and consumed more vitamin B12, folate, Ca, vitamin D, Fe and Zn compared with refugee children. Refugee children were at higher risk of having inadequate intakes of folate (37 %) and Fe (18 %). Both immigrant and refugee children were at high risk of inadequate vitamin D (87 and 93 %, respectively) and Ca intakes (79 and 80 %), and a substantial portion were at risk for inadequate Zn intake (21 and 31 %). Participants mentioned challenges with maintaining a healthy traditional diet in the midst of a busy schedule, while responding to their children's demands for foods high in fat and sugar. Conclusions Newcomer children are at risk for inadequate intakes of vitamin D, Ca and Zn, while refugee children are at additional risk for inadequate folate and Fe intakes. Newcomers to Canada may experience subtle or drastic changes in their food environment leading to dietary acculturation that includes increased consumption of foods high in sugar, salt and fat.

/pdf/dietary-habits-of-newcomer-children-in-canada-1376nh3b95.pdf

Dietary habits of newcomer children in Canada.

Newcomers are often healthy when they arrive in Canada, yet experience health declines shortly thereafter, possibly due to lifestyle changes. As part of the Healthy Immigrant Children study, this m...

Ginny Lane

Papers

Chronic health disparities among refugee and immigrant children in Canada.

Food Insecurity and Nutritional Risk among Canadian Newcomer Children in Saskatchewan.

Canadian newcomer children's bone health and vitamin D status

Dietary habits of newcomer children in Canada.

Barriers and facilitators to meeting recommended physical activity levels among new immigrant and refugee children in Saskatchewan, Canada