Hundreds of residents from the Waterloo region will soon begin visiting the mobile clinic in downtown Kitchener to participate in Statistics Canada’s brand new Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS).

The CHMS is the most extensive national survey on physical health measures ever conducted in the country. The results will capture a broad portrait of the health of Canadians by gathering baseline data on a variety of concerns, including cardiovascular health, nutritional status, as well as exposure to infectious disease and environmental contaminants.

The CHMS mobile clinic will be located at 44 Gaukel St., on the site of the CDI College in Kitchener, from November until late December. The CHMS will collect information from about 350 pre-selected residents from around the Waterloo region. In addition to the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, the clinic will receive participants from Woolwich Township, including the communities of Conestogo, Elmira, Maryhill and St. Jacobs.

The CHMS will help evaluate the health of a representative sample of 5,000 Canadians in 15 sites across the country over the next two years. It was launched earlier this year in Clarington, Ont. and later travelled to the Montérégie region in Québec, to Moncton, N.B., the North York and Etobicoke areas of Toronto, Ont. and then Montréal, Que. The Kitchener-Waterloo area is the survey’s sixth stop; the CHMS will visit three more sites in Ontario over the next two years, including Northumberland County, the Don Valley area of Toronto and St. Catharines-Niagara.

Representatives from Waterloo Public Health were invited to attend an information meeting about the survey.

Waterloo Regional Chair, and Waterloo Board of Health Chair, Ken Seiling said he was delighted with the CHMS’s appearance in the area and encouraged members of all selected households to participate. "By gathering important new information, it will be possible to develop new policies and programs which will improve public health and engage people in public health issues. We will all better understand the health of Canadians as this data is collected across Canada with interviews and health measurements. In Waterloo Region, we believe that improved public health programs will be the result of this survey.”

The purpose of the CHMS is to address longstanding gaps within Canada’s health surveillance system. Policy makers, provincial health departments, researchers and health professionals from many fields have expressed a need for a national, comprehensive source of accurate health measures to assist them in addressing the health needs of Canadians.

Conducting the survey

The survey will be conducted in two stages: a household interview and a visit to the mobile clinic. In Waterloo region, household interviews begin November 1. The clinic itself will begin operation November 17 for a period of about six weeks.

During household interviews, Statistics Canada staff will ask general questions on health (diet, medical history, health status) and lifestyle. Then, at the mobile clinic, qualified health professionals will take direct physical measurements, including height, weight, blood pressure and pulmonary capacity. Participants will also receive an oral health examination and take certain tests assessing their physical condition. Finally, blood and urine samples will be collected to test for cardiovascular health, nutritional status as well as exposure to infectious diseases and environmental contaminants.

Only the pre-selected residents can participate in the survey. Those who choose to do so will receive a report on their physical measurements and tests upon leaving the clinic and the results of their laboratory tests 8 to 12 weeks later.

“The combination of interviews and physical measurements will produce more accurate statistics about the general health of Canadians than have ever been available before,” said Jeanine Bustros, Director of Statistics Canada’s Physical Health Measures Division. She also stated that “the data will help in establishing maximum permissible levels for various substances, such as environmental contaminants, that for now are often established based on American studies.”

The CHMS is a partnership between Statistics Canada, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Over the four years of the survey’s development, Statistics Canada has consulted with a wide range of health professionals to ensure that the information collected during the survey meets the needs of researchers and decision-makers in Canada. www.statcan.ca/chms.

As of 2005, influenza vaccination rates were increasing across Canada after an apparent levelling off in 2003, according to an article published today in Health Reports.

Even so, many who are considered to be at high risk for serious complications from influenza infection—specifically, younger people with chronic conditions and seniors—are not being vaccinated.

Nationally, influenza vaccination rates nearly doubled from 1996/1997 to 2000/2001, increasing from 15% to 27%. After stabilizing between 2000/2001 and 2003, the rates increased to 34% in 2005.

Ontario, which since 2000 has provided free flu shots for residents aged six months and older, led the provinces, with vaccination rates rising from 18% to 42% between 1996/1997 and 2005.

Newfoundland and Labrador, with a 22% rate in 2005, ranked lowest among the provinces.

Targets for high-risk groups largely unmet
For vulnerable populations such as the elderly, young children and those with chronic medical conditions, influenza can lead to serious complications and even death.

In 1993, a national consensus conference on influenza set target vaccination coverage rates of 70% for adults aged 65 or older and for all adults with chronic medical conditions. These targets were raised to 80% in 2005.

In 2005, vaccination rates among the elderly compared favourably with the 70% target set in 1993. Among individuals aged 65 or older, those with at least one chronic condition met that target. It was also met by individuals aged 75 or older with no chronic conditions, while 62% of those aged 65 to 74 without chronic conditions were vaccinated, just short of the target.

However, the new 80% target set in 2005 was reached only by seniors aged 75 or older with chronic conditions.

Vaccination rates were much lower among people younger than 65 with chronic conditions. Just 56% of individuals aged 50 to 64 with chronic conditions were vaccinated in 2005, as were only about one-third of those younger than 50 with chronic conditions.

Effect of universal vaccination programs
Immediately after the introduction of the universal vaccination program, rates spiked for younger age groups in Ontario relative to other provinces. By contrast, the trend was flat among the elderly, who were previously covered in most provinces.

For 12- to 64-year-olds, the gap in vaccination rates between Ontario and other provinces observed in 2000/2001 was reduced slightly among those with chronic conditions, but not among those without. For older adults, the difference between Ontario and other provinces has narrowed slightly over time.

Nonetheless, vaccination rates are not solely determined by the type of program employed. Although Yukon has offered free flu shots to everyone aged 18 or older since 1999, its vaccination rates are generally the lowest among the territories. And, even without a universal vaccination program, Nova Scotia has matched Ontario's vaccination rates among high-risk groups.

In addition, Nunavut achieved the highest vaccination rates among the elderly, as well as among young, healthy individuals, even before the introduction of their universal vaccination program.

TORONTO - The Toronto Centre for Phenogenomics (TCP) today announced its official opening in the heart of Toronto's Discovery District. This state-of-the-art facility will enable groundbreaking research and discovery, with the goal of advancing human health.

Already acclaimed by researchers worldwide, the TCP, through modeling of disease, will seek cures and treatments in areas such as diabetes, cancer, musculoskeletal disease, cardiovascular and renal function, embryonic development, and learning and memory. "We are enabling research and we are doing research to make a difference in health care for Canadians," says Dr. Colin McKerlie, the TCP's Interim CEO, and a researcher who will be taking advantage of the TCP facilities.

The largest centre of its kind in Canada, the TCP houses 110,000 gross sq?ft of custom-designed laboratory space. It promises to be a cutting-edge provider of research tools, technologies and services, delivering "breakthroughs" such as advanced imaging techniques, and supported by the newest robotics equipment and technology.

The TCP is being launched as part of Ontario's response to university expansions, the growing innovation economy, and the resulting charge to increase the scientific research capacity of the province.

The initial concept of the TCP originated with Dr. Janet Rossant, a world leader in developmental biology. Dr. Rossant led the grant application to the Canada Foundation for Innovation that quickly became a collaboration among four founding member research hospitals: Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michael's Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children, and the University Health Network, which encompasses Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, and Princess Margaret Hospital.

"This collaboration is a promising response to increasingly constrained resources," says Rossant. "In this facility, we are not only collecting and sharing information, we are sharing decisions and ownership, vision and responsibility - expanding the capacity of each partner while contributing to the powerhouse that is Toronto's health research community."

"Research creates the best medicine, and this exciting four-hospital membership will bring together some of the brightest minds in science to improve the quality of clinical care and help keep Toronto and Ontario at the forefront of health research," reflects Joseph Mapa, President and CEO, Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Stephen Lye, Associate Director of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, agrees on a key strength of the Centre: "The TCP is a remarkable, world-class resource, providing researchers in our member institutions a competitive advantage in their search to understand and conquer disease."

Funding for this $69 million enterprise was a collaboration among different levels of government, the Member Hospitals, and industry. Sources included the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) ($26,771,045), the Ontario Government through the Ontario Innovation Trust (OIT) ($26,771,045), Member Hospital contributions ($11,427,717), and industry-based donations in kind ($4,183,717).

"This new facility defines cutting-edge, and exemplifies partnership," says Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President and CEO of the CFI. "The TCP will allow researchers from multiple institutions and disciplines to transform innovative ideas into groundbreaking research. The advancements that this facility will enable are sure to have a real and positive impact on the lives of all Canadians."

"I am very pleased and excited that Ontario's investment in the TCP through the Ontario Innovation Trust, is helping to solidify our province as a world-class centre for innovative research and scientific discovery," says Dr. Cal Stiller, Chair of the Ontario Innovation Trust. "This innovative scientific collaboration among four of our leading research hospitals will lead to new discoveries faster than individuals or institutions working alone could achieve. Using models is the shortest bridge to remarkable discoveries that are relevant to human disease."

Looking ahead, and as research unfolds, the TCP will provide enormous added value. It will be a training space for the next-generation of talented Canadian researchers whose work will help us understand the biology of disease, help identify and validate new drug targets, assess the genetics of drug responses, and on many fronts improve the long-term health of our population. And it will be a leader in the advancement of North American and global genomics efforts, attracting and retaining pre-eminent Canadian and international researchers and teams.

The donation by Manulife's Canadian Division was announced at an event in Montreal by Manulife Financial President and Chief Executive Officer Dominic D'Alessandro, who also personally donated $500,000 to the campaign. Mr. D'Alessandro is co-chair of the MNI's fundraising campaign, which is a five-year $40-million initiative to invest in people and expand facilities and services.

"Manulife is a global company and it is important for us to support organizations like the Montreal Neurological Institute, whose influence extends far beyond Canada's borders as a leading research facility," Mr. D'Alessandro said. "The MNI is embarking on brilliant and innovative research programs to improve the quality of life of their patients and others around the world."

David R. Colman, Director, MNI, added: "We are delighted that Manulife and Dominic D'Alessandro have chosen to play such lead roles in our campaign. Their support of the MNI will allow us to start up new research directions that ultimately we hope will markedly improve the quality of life for those of us who are debilitated by neurological disease."

Lead gifts from Brenda Milner, the Dorothy J. Killam Professor of Neuropsychology at the MNI and the Cyril & Dorothy and Joel & Jill Reitman Family Foundation were also announced today.

"Corporations and individuals have to step up to allow the kind of ground breaking research that is necessary to lead the world," added Paul Rooney, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manulife Canada. "I am pleased that Manulife is in a position to help and believe that it is our responsibility to do what we can to make a difference."

OTTAWA - The Competition Bureau announced that it has received the 2007 Edward Mazak Advancement in Public Awareness Award in recognition of the Bureau's efforts to focus consumer attention on important health fraud issues through its Fraud Prevention Forum work.

The award, from the Canadian Health Care Anti-fraud Association (CHCAA), is given to an individual or organization that excels in raising public awareness of health-care fraud.

"The Competition Bureau is proud of its efforts to improve the accuracy of information that reaches consumers and is grateful to see them acknowledged through this award," said Sheridan Scott, Commissioner of Competition. "This award is further proof that the effort we put into consumer education initiatives has been successful. We intend to keep our focus in this area."

The Bureau has been active in fighting health-related fraud, due to the serious repercussions it can carry both for the economy and individuals. The Bureau targets health fraud issues including: bogus weight-loss schemes, cure-all scams and products claiming false health benefits.

In 2004, the Bureau organized the Fraud Prevention Forum, a concerned group of private sector firms, consumer and volunteer groups, and government and law enforcement agencies committed to fighting fraud aimed at consumers and businesses. The Forum, chaired by the Bureau, conducts a Fraud Prevention Month campaign in March of every year. The Forum's work, which complements enforcement efforts in the field of health-care fraud, has included consumer alerts, Web awareness campaigns, and international collaboration to combat diabetes and weight-loss fraud.

The CHCAA, founded in 2000, includes public and private-sector health-care organizations interested in preventing fraud in the Canadian health care environment.

Members of the public that suspect a fraudulent activity or are contacted by scam artists should call PhoneBusters, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre, at 1-888-495-8501.

The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency. We contribute to the prosperity of Canadians by protecting and promoting competitive markets and enabling informed consumer choice.

KITCHENER - Installation of the first 16 Automated External Defibrillators (AED) at City facilities has started with the first two units being installed at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

The AED installations are part of an agreement the City entered into with the Regional Municipality of Waterloo's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) division, which will act as coordinator on behalf of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario's (HSFO) Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) program.

Automated External Defibrillators (AED) offer victims of sudden cardiac arrest a better chance for survival. An AED is a machine that analyses and looks for shock able heart rhythms, advises a rescuer of the need for defibrillation and, if needed, delivers that shock.

'"Having the AEDs at our facilities is critical," says Councillor Berry Vrbanovic, Co-chair of the Safe and Healthy Committee," when statistics clearly show that with each passing minute, the probability of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest declines by seven to 10 per cent."

Although funding for the first 12 AEDs has been approved, the AED committee plans to have units installed at four other locations: the Downtown Community Centre, the Kitchener Farmers Market, City Hall and a Special Events Unit.

The AED committee plans to have them installed through funding from the City's 2007 capital budget.

Kitchener has already identified a need for 38 units. Feasibility studies have also identified a number of City facilities as priorities in terms of implementing the PAD program, based on high-risk user groups (sports and older adults), the volume of patron traffic in each facility and the seasonal operation of each location.

In July, the HSFO announced that the Region of Waterloo would receive 50 AED units to share with municipalities. Under the agreement, the Region authorizes the placement for each municipality's PAD program.

The first 12 units will be placed at these priority locations around the City of Kitchener:

Kitchener Memorial Auditorium (2)
Lions Arena
Don McLaren Arena
Grand River Arena
Patrick Doherty Arena
Rockway Senior Centre
Breithaupt Community Centre
Grand River Recreation Complex
Forest Heights Community Pool
Rockway Golf Course
Doon Valley Golf Course

The AED committee plans to submit another funding grant application to the HSFO in 2008 and also plans to bring forward options for funding the remaining AED units during the City's 2008 capital budget deliberations.

The goal is to ensure funds are there so the PAD program is in full operation by fall 2008.

"This exciting initiative has the potential to dramatically improve survival rates for heart attack victims in our community," says Vrbanovic.

Background:

The AED project was initiated following a recommendation from the Safe and Healthy Community Advisory Committee that the units should be installed in key city facilities.

Funding for the AEDs comes from a $3-million donation to the HSFO from the Province of Ontario, as well as the City's 2007 capital budget.

The average cost of adding an AED unit to a facility is $4,000 based on a cost of $2,500 a unit, the wall case ($500) and the allotment of $1,000 for training staff per unit.

Overall the City will train 120 staff and/or volunteers in CPR-C and AED certification. Funds are included that support 8 to 10 trained personnel at each AED location.

People struggling with obesity could one day be treated using a naturally produced hormone as an appetite suppressant, thanks to new research by a University of Guelph scientist.

Prof. Larry Grovum, Department of Biomedical Sciences, recently tested the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) on pigs and found it was effective in exciting sensors that detect the filling of the stomach. Exciting these sensors then tricks the brain into believing the stomach is full.

“It’s a naturally produced chemical that could soon become the basis of a marketable diet pill to treat human obesity,” said Grovum, who conducted the tests with graduate student Bill Ellison. “Since CCK acts similarly in pigs and people, it’s highly likely that this system can be used to suppress appetites and help those wanting to lose weight.”

Not only can it be used to create an enhanced natural feeling of fullness during a meal, but the hormone can also suppress appetite between meals, he said.

CCK is released naturally by the body when digestion of food begins. This hormone makes the pancreas secrete enzymes to break down food and makes the gall bladder contract to release bile, which enables fat absorption in the small intestine.

Although the hormone was tested in rats in the 1970s, a lengthy debate followed about the validity of the test, said Grovum. It was argued by some that the doses used produced excessively high levels of CCK in the blood and suppressed appetite by making the rats sick.

"The higher the dosage, the more likely there will be side effects and it won't be safe."

Grovum's research is the first to show the hormone is effective at generating feelings of fullness when injected at low dosages, similar to the amounts produced naturally by the body.

He is also the first researcher to use pigs in testing out CCK as an appetite suppressant. The digestive tracts of pigs and humans are similar, so the research is more applicable to humans than tests conducted in the past on small animals, he said.

Now that he has determined CCK is the key to suppressing appetite, Grovum said the next step is to find other compounds that can be taken as a pill to amplify the fullness effect of CCK released naturally during meals.

“People would then feel full more quickly, eat less and lose weight.”

Developing an effective diet pill that produces natural feelings of fullness is a huge step towards helping people who are obese take off the weight.

“Diet and exercise works in only five per cent of people and is totally irrelevant for people who are grossly obese and need help to get the weight off in the first place. This research could help those who are grossly obese take off the weight and keep it off."

Public input is important as we develop the future of EMS in Waterloo Region.

WATERLOO - Michael Kirby, the inaugural chair of Canada's new mental health commission, will discuss the future of eHealthcare and resistance to change in the health-care system.

In a public lecture on Wednesday, Sept. 26, Kirby will explore why health-care providers, who are keen to make use of the latest drugs, tests and technology, are reluctant to embrace the benefits of a modern electronic management system. He will speak starting at 3 p.m. in the William G. Davis Centre, room 1302, on the UW campus.

The former Canadian senator's lecture, entitled Why Not eHealthcare Now? The Resistance to Change in Our Healthcare System, will explore the financial, professional and psychological reasons for this resistance to change in order to understand how e-health can best be implemented in Canada.

"Health care is the most information intensive industry in Canada," he says in an abstract on his talk. "Each year there are more than one billion encounters between patients and the health-care system. Yet virtually all of the information generated by these encounters is recorded on paper rather than electronically."

Kirby asks: "Why is it that patients are so concerned about the privacy of their personal data that they resist the introduction of modern information systems, even when it can be shown that privacy can be maintained in such systems? Why is it that governments, which have been so willing to fund new advances in medical technology, are so reluctant to fund information systems technology in health care?"

As a member of the Senate from 1984 to 2006, Kirby was the chairman of the standing senate committee on social affairs, science and technology, which studied the health-care system and produced the 2002 report, entitled The Health State of Canadians -- The Federal Role. Under his leadership, the committee also produced the first-ever national report on mental health, mental illness and addiction, Out of the Shadows at Last.

At present, Kirby is the special ministerial adviser on mental health and the first chair of the federal government's recently launched Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Before entering government, Kirby was a professor in the schools of business administration and public administration at Dalhousie University. He was also a faculty member at the business schools of the University of Chicago and the University of Kent in Britain. His involvement in the private sector has included senior vice-president positions at Canadian National and Goldfarb Consultants, an international market research firm based in Toronto.

The lecture is part of the annual smarter-health seminar series, sponsored by the Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research. The UW-based institute has dedicated the fifth year of its series to the theme Why Not? The question is the catchphrase for UW's 50th anniversary, celebrated throughout 2007.

The seminars are open to the public and admission is free. However, people are asked to register prior to each seminar.

For those who cannot travel, the seminars are available by a live webcast, and by videoconference to Ontario Telehealth Network sites.

Health informatics is an interdisciplinary area that develops, extends and applies concepts from computer science, information science, telecommunications and other disciplines with the goal of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of health care.

WIHIR is a trans-disciplinary institute at UW delivering value to the health system through information, information management, and information and communication technologies research. The smarter-health seminar series is sponsored by Borden Ladner Gervais LLP , McKesson Information Solutions and Healthcare Information Management and Communications Canada. The Michael Kirby seminar is also sponsored by the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the Faculty of Science.

The opening reception, which is free to the public, will be held at the Kitchener Public Library, 85 Queen Street North, Kitchener from 6:00pm - 9:00pm. Two unique Canadian films created by youth will be shown, including:

“Hear the Story” (Toronto, 2005, 28min) ~ A film created by Toronto youth that eloquently describes their struggle with unemployment, discrimination and violence and how they are taking control of their own futures.

“The Point” (Montreal, 2006, 97min) with special guest

Set in a multi-racial inner-city neighbourhood and based on stories crafted from the real lives of its teenage collaborators, The Point is a raw, kid's eye view of the teen hang-outs, homes and streets that unite and divide them. A fresh drama on teenage life on the wrong side of the tracks, The Point gives sound and vision to the voice of today's youth. Their stories, told in their own vernacular, reflect how they experience their world. Acclaimed Director Joshua Dorsey will join us to speak about working with street-involved youth in Montreal to create this film.

Regional Chair Ken Seiling will be on hand to provide opening remarks and the opening reception will feature short films from Vancouver, Australia, Cambodia, Thunder Bay as a preview of what is to come over the next ten weeks.

In The Mind's Eye 2007 will showcase more than 50 free events about issues of drugs and alcohol, presented by Waterloo Region Community Safety & Crime Prevention Council in collaboration with Region of Waterloo Public Health. We know that 80% of people in Canada are closely connected to someone dealing with an addiction; yet addiction is often stigmatized. The series is unique in North America and will be held September 19- November 30 at various locations throughout Waterloo Region. Check out www.inthemindseye.ca for the full schedule of events.

Waterloo - Another school year has begun and with it looms another flu season. The very real possibility of an influenza pandemic also looms, according to many informed health-care sources. Wilfrid Laurier University’s Pandemic Planning Working Group has been busy developing the university’s overall plan, as well as coming up with ways to ensure members of the university community are informed about the issues.

A pandemic website has been developed (www.wlu.ca/pandemic) and there will be a Pandemic Awareness display (complete with hand-washing station!) in the concourse on Thursday, September 13.

Drop by the booth from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to:
• Pick up some information sheets and bookmarks about how you can prepare and protect yourself in the event of an influenza pandemic
• Learn proper hand-washing techniques
• Enter a draw for first-aid kits!

“Pandemic flu preparedness doesn’t fit neatly under any specific department’s responsibility,” says Stephanie Kibbee, manager of Environmental/Occupational Health & Safety, and a member of the Pandemic Planning Working Group. “In many ways, it’s everyone’s responsibility, and the university would face numerous challenges if a pandemic was to occur. So it’s important for all of us to prepare and understand what to do.”

“We hope that the pandemic awareness activities will better inform our students, faculty and staff about their role in preparedness, and provide them with checklists and prevention strategies,” says Kibbee.

Guelph - About 25 per cent of Ontario's junior kindergartners are overweight or at risk for being overweight, and the percentage increases as children get older, a University of Guelph professor has found in the first long-term study of four- to eight-year-olds.

In addition, children who were overweight or at risk for being overweight in JK were six times more likely to be overweight four years later, said Susan Evers of Guelph's Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition. Her research was published recently in the Journal of American College Nutrition.

Evers and three colleagues took body mass index (BMI) measurements of 760 children from JK to Grade 3. To be considered overweight, the children had to have a BMI above the 95th percentile.

“You would expect that only five per cent of the children would fall into that category,” said Evers. “What we found was that, in junior kindergarten, it was close to 10 per cent and that it steadily increased up to 15 per cent by Grade 3.”

In addition, 14 per cent of JKs and 17 per cent of Grade 3ers were at risk for being overweight with a BMI from the 85th to 95th percentile.

More than half the children were measured annually four or five times over the next few years, allowing the researchers to determine how being overweight in JK affected their future weight.

“Children whose BMI was between the 85th and 95th percentile in JK had almost six times the risk of being overweight four years later compared with those below the 85th percentile,” said Evers.

The researchers didn’t find a sex difference in the prevalence of overweight children.

“Obesity is an established risk factor for both non-insulin-dependent diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adults,” Evers said. “The long-term consequences of being overweight in childhood are also alarming.”

Participating children were all part of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a prevention initiative in low-income communities in Ontario.

The researchers also looked at the mothers’ BMI, education level, birthplace, age and poverty status. They found that children whose mothers were overweight were more likely to be overweight in JK.

“Almost 50 per cent of the mothers were overweight themselves,” Evers said. “A positive change in the diets of parents could result in better eating habits among children.”

She admits that changing household eating habits presents a challenge for low-income families. “Interventions promoting increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and reduced intakes of foods high in fat and low in fibre won’t work unless economically disadvantaged households have access to appropriate foods.”

There are also more barriers for lower-income families to increase levels of physical activity, she said. “Lack of transportation, the cost of equipment and fees for certain sports, a lack of child care for siblings, and a shortage of well-equipped playgrounds are some of the obstacles facing low-income families.”