The Healthy Grains Institute and the Dairy Farmers of Canada highlight balanced diet requirements
By Jennifer Jackson
Agriculture organizations continue to stress the importance of Canadian products to a well-balanced diet, as Health Canada reviews and updates the Food Guide.
The Healthy Grains Institute (HGI) will seek out Jane Philpott, the Canadian minister of health, to include HGI’s input on the revisions.
“We support the goal of updating Canada’s Food Guide to provide easier to understand guidance for Canadians who want to adopt healthy eating patterns,” says Christine Lowry, executive director of HGI.
The HGI encourages Health Canada to thoroughly examine and collect peer-reviewed data to ensure that all revisions are based on evidence.
“Grains are an essential part of a balanced diet,” says Lowry. “Research has shown that adults whose diet patterns had a balance of whole and enriched grains including pasta, cooked cereals and rice grains had better overall diet quality, greater intake of vital nutrients, lower total sugar intake and lower average body weight than those who did not predominantly eat grains.”
The Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) similarly stresses the importance of their product – dairy – in the Food Guide.
“Milk has up to 16 essential nutrients in it – (more so) than in any alternative beverages,” says Thérèse Beaulieu, assistant director, policy communications of DFC.
“Milk products are considered to be one of the best source of calcium as they contain large quantities of (calcium) and it is well absorbed by our bodies,” according to a Dairy Goodness DFC article.
Farms.com covers other industry reactions to the Canada Food Guide revisions in a Nov. 10 article.