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Guidance from Health Canada to limit highly processed foods (HPF) seeks to ensure that Canadians remain within intake recommendations for nutrients of concern. However, HPF can contribute to dietary requirements of specific populations. The Canadian Nutrition Society and Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutritional Sciences convened speakers for a Food for Health workshop in 2021 to provide evidence and perspectives from government, industry, and healthcare on reasons for advocating limits and potential unintended consequences of limiting HPF, and implications and necessity of HPF in clinical settings. This paper discusses advantages and disadvantages of HPF explored at this workshop.

Indigenous communities in Canada are concerned about the health of their youth and the reclamation of traditional food-related skills amongst their people. Food sovereignty has an integral role in food and nutrition security, and the path to Indigenous self-determination. Learning Circles: Local Healthy Food to School (LC:LHF2S) was a community engagement model that aimed to enhance access to local, healthy, and traditional foods for youth. In each of four First Nations communities, a Learning Circle Evaluation Facilitator worked to plan and implement activities, build on community strengths, and promote partnerships. This paper describes how the model was perceived to support food sovereignty. Data included interviews, process reporting, and school surveys, and was analyzed according to pillars effective for the development of food sovereignty in Indigenous communities. Goals set by two communities incorporated food sovereignty principles, and in each community capacity-building work furthered the development of a more autonomous food system. There were many examples of a transition to greater food sovereignty, local food production, and consumption. Indigenous governance was an important theme and was influential in a community's success. The model appears to be an adaptable strategy to support the development of food sovereignty in First Nations communities. Novelty : LC:LHF2S was a community engagement model that aimed to enhance access to local, healthy, and traditional foods for youth. The model is an adaptable strategy to support the development of food sovereignty in First Nations communities. There were many examples of a transition to greater food sovereignty, local food production, and consumption.

Serious games (i.e., digital games designed for educational purposes) can foster positive learning attitudes and are increasingly used as educational tools. Foodbot Factory is a serious game application (app) that helps children learn about healthy eating based on Canada's Food Guide principles and has demonstrated to increase nutrition knowledge among this group. This paper describes the process followed to expand Foodbot Factory's educational content and integrate immersive technologies and innovative features into the app. The revision process, which was guided by the Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials model, included the following phases: first, an interdisciplinary team of nutrition scientists, education experts, and computer scientists analyzed data from the original pilot study, recently published literature, and feedback from stakeholders to define areas to improve Foodbot Factory. The five original Foodbot Factory modules were evaluated by the team during weekly meetings, where the educational content, interactive features, and other elements that required updates (e.g., aesthetics and accessibility) were identified. Second, prototypes were created and refined until a final version of Foodbot Factory was approved. Nineteen children tested the updated Foodbot Factory and found it "easy to use" (89%) and "fun" (95%). The new version of Foodbot Factory contains 19 learning objectives, including 13 original and six new objectives. Interactive engagement features in the updated Foodbot Factory included augmented reality incorporated into two learning modules; new mini-games were created, including a memory game; an overhaul of the aesthetics; (e.g., new food images); and accessibility features were included to support users with cognitive and vision disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon arrival in Canada, immigrants are thrust into a new food environment, which is at an advanced stage of the nutrition transition continuum, encompassing reduced physical activity, sedentary lifestyles, and energy dense diets. In addition to the influence of readily available energy dense foods, immigrant children's food environments may also be impacted by limited availability of traditional foods, economic-constraints, time-constraints, parents' cooking skills, parents' child feeding styles, and school food environments. The study involved in-depth interviews with 22 immigrant parents regarding their family experiences of the food and nutrition environment, along with 22 participants from settlement agencies, community schools, English-as-a-second-language programmes, and healthcare organizations. Many newcomers shared experiences that highlighted drastic changes to their food environment upon arrival, including reduced access to open air fresh produce markets, increased access to large supermarkets, fast-paced lifestyles, and the pervasive presence of fast foods and snack foods. Some parents indicated that food purchase decisions were impacted by children's demands and that their children's school environments affected the types of foods their children would eat. A few service providers mentioned negative impacts on breastfeeding, and the change in physical environment as part of the nutrition environment due to association with vitamin D status. The early years are a pivotal time in the development of eating patterns; so supportive food and nutrition environments in homes, communities, and schools can ensure that children develop healthy eating habits to support long-term health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on Vitamin D status in Canadian children of diverse ancestry. Topics include study sponsored by Health Canada that compared vitamin D status measured as serum 25-hydroxvitamin D in children; and importance of public health actions towards meeting vitamin D intake recommendations among those of high-risk deficiency.