New edition of Canada's Food Guide released

A new version of Canada's Food Guide was announced by Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement on Feb. 5, 2007. The guide has helped Canadians with healthy eating habits since 1942 but was last updated in 1992. It is the Canadian government's most-requested publication after income tax forms.

Changes to the Food Guide include:

a first-time recommendation to include a small amount of unsaturated fat in regular diets;

physical activity to complement healthy eating;

advice for some people to take vitamin supplements;

an advisory to limit foods with excess salt, sugar, fat and calories, which is considered an unprecedented caution regarding junk food.

Examples of the Food Guide's four groups (clockwise from top left): vegetables and fruit, grain products, meat and its alternatives, milk and its alternatives

Criticism

Although many observers welcomed the new Guide, some complained that it does not adequately promote weight reduction. Other critics charged that there is undue food industry influence on the Guide's contents.

For a summary of the allegations of food industry involvement and a detailed discussion of the purported nutritional deficiencies of the new Guide, please see Canada's Food Guide to Unhealthy Eating.