What can the public do to slow down the high rise of obesity?

 In 2015, obesity was officially declared a “chronic medical disease” by the Canadian Medical Association. In years following, other organizations have followed suit - including Obesity Canada-Obésité Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization. This sparked a significant shift in public healthcare and

Heart health: eat well, move more, and live long

 February was Healthy Heart Month, so here are a few fun facts regarding our heart. Did you know that your heart is roughly the size of your fist; it pumps about 115,000 litres of blood a day and weighs less than a pound? Its most important role is to pump

Watch out for residual sugars in your summer drinks

 Lockdown has resulted in many changes to how we live, one is the blurring of our work with week with the weekend, which was previously marked on Friday evening with friends and a drink. However, these blurred boundaries have the result for some in drinking during the week as well

Rising Rates of Kidney Failure Signal Need for Public Health Strategy

 As many as 40 thousand people in Canada are affected by kidney failure – a problem that is increasing across the country, with significant consequences for our health system.   A report released this month from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy projects an increase of 68 per cent in

You are what you eat: Processed food additives linked to obesity, gut inflammation and food addictions

 Processed food can remain longer on shop shelves, but what does that spell for our digestion? In a new research paper published in the journal Nature, scientists from Georgia State University examined how food additive emulsifiers affect the digestive health of mice. Emulsifiers are added to most processed foods to prolong shelf

Plantar Fasciitis or Joggers Heel: An early sign of diabetes?

 Lets talk about Jeff, 45. He lives in Kanata with his wife Jill and his two daughters. He does little exercise in the winter, but enjoys jogging from April to September. He has put on a few pounds over the winter, which he blames to his lack of exercise and sweet

Nine Steps to a Healthier You!

 Martine, 44, works for Statistics Canada. She is married with two children, Samantha, 13, and Gordon, 11. Both play high-level soccer, which means that both she and her husband Graham are kept extremely busy ferrying them both to practice sessions and games. This combined with a demanding job and shouldering

Sleep Apnea? How controlling your blood sugar could help

 Robert, 45, is a business consultant and lives with his wife Susan and two children in Greely, Ottawa. About a year ago, he visited his family physician due to problems with his sleep. He explained to the doctor that for that last three months he had been waking up in the

Five things every Canadian should know about obesity

 By Carolyn Shimmin There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Canadians living with obesity over the past few decades and it is often cited as a risk factor for other chronic health conditions including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer. This means

Most Canadians don’t understand food nutrition labels

 By John Millar and Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski  How Simplifying and Standardizing Food Labels Can Help With Better Food Choices As January comes to an end, those who vowed to eat better in 2015 have probably already given up. Not very surprising, considering that most people grossly underestimate the amount of calories they

Reducing Obesity: It Takes a Village

 An interview with Canada’s Dr. Yoni Freedhoff During my recent visit to Canada, I had a chance to meet Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an obesity expert for EvidenceNetwork.ca and an assistant professor in family medicine at the University of Ottawa. He is also the founder and medical director of Canada's Bariatric