OTTAWA—A Conservative senator who helped craft a report on the country’s obesity crisis is cheering the federal government’s plan to overhaul the Canada Food Guide, but wants Health Canada taken to task for what he considers flawed dietary advice.
Sen. Kelvin Ogilvie, chair of a Senate committee that spent more than a year examining the obesity issue, said the review needs to address what he considers obvious problems, such as characterizing fruit juice as a healthy food choice.
“When you take a glass of squeezed orange juice as the equivalent of roughly the sugar of five oranges in a single glass, that is obscene,” Ogilvie said in an interview on Monday, Oct. 24, after Health Minister Jane Philpott unveiled the proposed changes.
“Using an example like fruit juices as an example of a healthy diet is simply wrong.”
Philpott used a key policy speech in Montreal to announce that Health Canada is launching consultations on revamping the venerable food guide—an exercise whose success needs to be measured in actions, not words, Ogilvie said.
Part of the revision process will include looking at all dietary guidance on beverages, Health Canada officials said Monday, adding the department is very aware of the “debate” around juice and will take it into consideration while reviewing the guide.
The guide, which was last updated in 2007, will be the subject of public consultations until Dec. 8, the government said.
Ogilvie praised the decision to update the guide, but said he has a hard time understanding how Health Canada can continue to defend it in its current form.
“The statement by Health Canada that its food guide is fairly good, that it is based on science ... is absolute nonsense,” he said. Scientific evidence contradicts the guide in a number of areas, including carbohydrates, he added.
“The minister needs to take Health Canada in this area and shake them by the neck,” he said. “How can they, today, make that statement that their food guide is based on science?”
The food guide revision is part of a multi-year, healthy eating strategy that will also include regulations to eliminate trans fats and cut the amount of salt in processed foods.
From The Canadian Press
