Canada's Food Guide
Canada's Food Guide
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Canada's Food Guide

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Canada's Food Guide

Canada's Food Guide (French: Guide alimentaire canadien) is a nutrition guide produced by Health Canada. In 2007, it was reported to be the second most requested Canadian government publication, behind the Income Tax Forms. The Health Canada website states: "Food guides are basic education tools that are designed to help people follow a healthy diet."

Canada's first food guide was introduced in 1942 to provide guidance to Canadians on proper nutrition during a period of time when wartime rations were common. The 1942 version was called the Official Food Rules. The guide identified six food groups: Milk; Fruit; Vegetables; Cereals and Breads; Meat, Fish, etc.; and Eggs.

In 1944 the guide was revised and renamed Canada's Food Rules. The Meat and Fish group was expanded to include cheese and eggs, and a recommendation was added to use iodized salt.

In 1949, the Guide was amended based on the feedback from teachers, who had been using this as a resource in primary school. The five food groups were kept; the reference to butter, which had been incorporated into the section on Breads and Cereals in 1944, grew to include "or fortified margarine", an engineered spread which was by that date manufactured from vegetable oils due to wartime shortages of tallow and lard. Vitamin D supplements, available from sources such as cod liver oil, were recommended for the first time.

In 1961, the guidelines were revised and renamed to Canada's Food Guide, instead of "Rules". The emphasis on whole grain remained. Milk needs of expectant and nursing mothers were underlined, and citrus fruit made its debut because it was available in stores for the first time as developments in highways and trucks allowed for their transport from Florida to the Canadian market.

The change from five to four food groups was seen in the 1977 Guide when "fruits and vegetables" became a single group. Daily potatoes were no longer recommended. The metric system was employed for the first time. The Canada's Food Guide Handbook made its first appearance.

The 1982 version of the Guide issued a warning to Canadians about the relationship of diet and heart disease, as the Report of the Committee on Diet and Cardiovascular Disease made its impact:

After reviewing the information available on the relationship between diet and cardiovascular disease, [the committee] believes that there is an adequate basis for recommending changes in the Canadian diet.

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