When the Canadian Paediatric Society, among others, queried the dietary recommendations on fat consumption in children, the Society was invited to join Health Canada in researching the issue. It interprets the food guide and recommendations on dietary fat in the context of pre-schoolers. More recently, Health Canada has sought to position nutrition in a broader health context, which includes physical activity and a positive outlook on life. New scientific research on nutrition and health uncovers new relationships and connections between them. Tastes in foods vary in response to prevailing fashions and shifting demographics.
Global trade exerts an influence.
With 60 years of history, the federal government knows that change and modernization of its nutritional advice is both necessary and desirable. But the challenge for the future, when a harmonized North American nutritional standard becomes inevitable, will be to finesse the transition without relinquishing those aspects of Canada's nutrition policy, and policy development process, that are valued as uniquely Canadian. The cornerstones of that policy have been, and will likely continue to be, a strategic combination of Nutrition Recommendations and Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating . There is a vital place for continuing national leadership in researching, defining and communicating an accurate and comprehensive nutrition policy for Canada. To be effective and credible, however, the federal government must work with partners.