Evidence of meeting #19 for Health in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was research.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
If you can give it to the clerk's office, we'll make sure that everyone gets it.
Thank you for the question, Mrs. Quach. I know time goes by quickly in five-minute rounds. I did give you quite a bit of extra time.
Mr. Brown.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Patrick Brown Conservative Barrie, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I've been hearing some of the comments so far. From the Public Health Agency of Canada we heard that Canadians are living longer and longer, which is a good thing, and that about 90% of Canadians feel happy about their health. At the same time, we look at some of the research we've been presented about the OECD rankings on obesity. How are we getting healthier in one sense, so that we're living longer and people are confident about their health, yet we're 27 out of 29 in terms of obesity? How are we healthy and unhealthy at the same time?
Can anyone enlighten me on this?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Yes, it does sound like a paradox, doesn't it.
When we look at chronic diseases and we think about diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, for example, we see that obesity is a driver for those. So we're concerned that although at this stage we may be seeing that Canadians are reporting that they're feeling healthy, and we are living longer, there's a canary in the coal mine, and that's obesity. Over time, as our young people and young adults are increasingly obese, we are starting to see, for instance, type 2 diabetes being diagnosed earlier. We are starting to see more cardiovascular disease in younger age groups. But we're also really good at treating these diseases. So with more effective treatments, people are living longer with cardiovascular disease, and they're living longer with diabetes. But as the balance shifts, as those risk factors with negative impacts on our health continue to rise, of course the trajectory is expected to change.
I'm going to turn to my colleague to see if Dr. Sherman would like to add to that.
4:55 p.m.
Scientific Director, Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
I think that's put very well. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, if you can. So it's about identifying the underlying causes of obesity, because it does drive diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as you've heard. The earlier one can intervene, the better it will be. It's often hard to identify what exactly is the best way to intervene, and that's what the research is about.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Patrick Brown Conservative Barrie, ON
Maybe that's an underlying area of concern for us going forward.
I think of a comment my mother once made to me. She said that when she grew up in Barrie, everyone was out on the street playing sports. Now you don't see that as much, because there's so much other competition, whether it's video games or 300 TV channels.
What should we be doing as a country to help get people engaged in physical activity for their lifetime? When we talk about chronic aging, there are things we should be starting immediately, in children's adolescence, that would help initiate that. What programs could we do to sustain that? Are there any overall suggestions?
5 p.m.
Director General, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada
Maybe I'll kick off, and then others, I'm sure, will have suggestions.
Of course, one of the most important things we can do is to work with parents and families and in communities to help set the conditions to encourage more physical activity, and safe physical activity. Injury prevention is an important part of that equation. Some of the work we're doing now in funding communities to help them develop programs that encourage safe physical activity is one area that's important for us, including awareness among parents, and working with the education system. So a year ago when Canada's health ministers endorsed the Declaration on Prevention and Promotion and said that we all have to work together on this, the education ministers were consulted. There's a dialogue with those ministers on what we can do in schools. We have a Joint Consortium for School Health that's very active in encouraging the setting of policies and curricula around supporting physical activity.
So again, there's no magic bullet, no one-size-fits-all, but a number of these types of initiatives, with the family and parents being very important in that equation in getting their kids active and helping them do the things that are going to set those habits for lifelong health.
5 p.m.
Scientific Director, Institute of Population and Public Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
I have just a couple of points to add to this. One is that we have to think about this across the life course. Actually, the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging that's being funded by CIHR is a good example of where we're starting to look at a cohort of people at age 45 and above, because we know that patterns of physical activity are also very important as you get older. They affect your risk of falls, which is a major factor costing our health care system a lot of money—and a lot of seniors much grief.
The second aspect I'd like to point out is inequities. Not all population groups have the same access to safe environments, to a built environment that's conducive to physical activity, to nutritious food, and so on. This is one area that we've really focused on within our own institute, looking at what it is that we can do about health inequities in the long term.
December 5th, 2011 / 5 p.m.
NDP
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Thank you very much.
Thank you to the witnesses for coming today.
I would actually like to come back to the issue of sodium levels that my colleague raised, and why we haven't seen more follow-up and action on this. I think many people were hoping that at the Halifax meeting there would be agreement on this issue. It appeared—at least that's the way it was reported—that it was the federal government that was basically not in agreement on moving forward, on having transparency, and forcing force food producers and so on to include information and move to the new levels.
I think you gave some good general responses, but I think we'd really like to know what the timeline is now, given the discussions that happened in Halifax. What can we expect in a very concrete way in terms of timelines for the new levels? If there isn't some sort of voluntary agreement, why won't the federal government actually move on making this a mandatory thing?
It seems to us to be so basic. We've talked about so many issues here and yet this is fundamental. This is not rocket science. Surely we have to get this to happen as a preventative measure.
5 p.m.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
The work on sodium is moving forward, including the component with industry I had mentioned earlier.
We've been working and meeting with industry fairly intensely to talk through guidance and approaches. It is an incremental approach, a voluntary approach because we're looking at long-term significant change for Canadians. It's something that will take time to see the results.
That is not to say, however, that there isn't a lot of work under way. It's been done in the last year to year and a half. Focus on education and awareness, for instance, is moving ahead. As I mentioned, the work with industry and the research work on surveillance so that we can really track how much sodium Canadians are taking in, and all that work with the provinces, territories, industry, and non-government organizations are well under way.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Am I correct that recommendations were made that were not adopted, even though the provinces and territories actually appeared to be willing to go ahead? It seems that the ball was dropped on the federal end. I certainly don't mean at the civil service level, but at the political level.
It is very disappointing that we don't seem to be making faster progress on this. I think it's been an outstanding issue for years now. Maybe the feedback can go back to the department that it's something that we really need to move on.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon, BC
Thank you very much.
I wanted to talk a bit about aboriginal Canadians' health. We've heard in our other study that the health outcomes for aboriginal Canadians are significantly worse than for others.
What specifically are we doing to address that concern? I know a separate food guide has been introduced. What other educational programs are being introduced so that we're reaching out in an appropriate way to that group, which Heath Canada has a specific responsibility for?
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
I am happy to give a few examples of some of the work that's under way.
I would suggest that it would be useful for the committee if I were to go back to the first nations and Inuit health branch to get a more complete package for the committee.
Some of the work includes the aboriginal head start program, which you may be aware of. It helps provide support from a health and wellness point of view for children in first nations communities. There is also the maternal child health program, the prenatal nutrition program, and also the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder program. These are but a few examples of some of the specific interventions for that population. As I indicated, we would be happy to provide more detailed explanations of the resources allocated, the program objectives and so on, and how they're doing.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon, BC
Perhaps we could go back to the issue of sodium. I met recently with a group, whose name I can't remember, that was involved with the food processing industry. We were talking about the sodium reduction initiative, and they indicated that there were significant problems. In some products they've rolled out, they have voluntarily taken the sodium content down, and consumers have reacted very negatively to that.
Can you explain some of the concerns you've heard? Are you taking that into account as you look at sodium? While we want to provide healthier options, are you working with the food processing industry to ensure that we're not hurting them on a retail level?
5:05 p.m.
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Thank you.
This is why it's been so important for us to have a very open and consistent dialogue with industry on the sodium file. Some products in certain key categories might be very much associated with sodium, and I'll use the example of feta cheese. So the same adjustments can't be applied to foods across the board. It requires a very thoughtful and deliberate approach, depending on the product, the history of that product, the expectations of Canadians, and so on. This is why it's a fairly complex interaction with industry, requiring in-depth consultations.
We feel that the dialogue has been going very well, but it will take time for Canadians to adjust. Generally speaking, an incremental approach seems to be most effective in terms of market accessibility and Canadians' making the right food choices, the healthy food choices, for their families.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Scientific Director, Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
CIHR was involved in the research aspect of the sodium working group. We were involved with partners in industry on the food science. There's a very strong nutritional science academic community in Canada that's been working in partnership with industry, because, as you point out, humans are acutely aware of changes in salt levels. When you reduce sodium concentrations, people notice it right away. And in certain foods there are issues about safety from dropping sodium. So it's a very complex issue that needs to go by food category when looking at sodium reductions.