Canadians' perceptions of food, diet, and health--a national survey.
BACKGROUND
Poor nutrition is harmful to one's health as it can lead to overweight and obesity and a number of chronic diseases. Understanding consumer perceptions toward diet and nutrition is critical to advancing nutrition-related population health interventions to address such issues. The purpose of this paper was to examine Canadians' perceived health and diet status, compared to their actual health status, and general concern about their own diet and beliefs about health. Also analyzed were some of the perceived barriers to eating "healthy" foods, with a focus on the availability of "healthy" processed foods.


METHODS
Two surveys were administered online to a group of Canadian panelists from all ten provinces during May 2010 to January 2011. Thirty thousand were invited; 6,665 completed the baseline survey and 5,494 completed the second survey. Panelists were selected to be nationally representative of the Canadian adult population by age, sex, province and education level, according to 2006 census data.


RESULTS
Approximately one third of Canadians perceived their health or diet to be very good while very few Canadians perceived their health or diet to be very poor. While the majority of Canadians believed food and nutrition to be very important for improving one's health, fewer Canadians were concerned about their own diets. The majority of Canadians reported difficulty finding "healthy" processed foods (low in salt and sugar and with sufficient vitamins and minerals). Many also reported difficulty finding healthy foods that are affordable.


CONCLUSIONS
Although consumers believe that nutrition is one of the most important factors for maintaining health, there are still a number of attitudinal and perceived environmental barriers to healthy eating.
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Alyssa
A
Schermel
Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics Department, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Julio
J
Mendoza
Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics Department, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Spencer
S
Henson
Department of Business and Social Sciences, Dalhousie University, Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Steven
S
Dukeshire
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Laura
L
Pasut
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Teri E
TE
Emrich
Division of Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Wendy
W
Lou
Division of Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Ying
Y
Qi
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mary R
MR
L'abbé
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002170:Canada; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009753:Nutritive Value; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult