Good food equals good health

March is Nutrition Month in Canada, but for many people, nutrition is a concern every day of the year. Health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, obesity and childhood malnutrition are related to what we eat.

The traditional Inuit lifestyle provided what people need to be healthy, physically, mentally, socially and spiritually: healthy fats from marine mammals to keep blood flowing and bones strong, protein to build healthy muscles, iron for healthy blood, plenty of physical activity to keep bodies in shape, and the sharing of foods to keep community bonds strong.

In fact, it was Inuit who taught the world about the benefits of marine mammal fats! These healthy fats from seal, whale, walrus, polar bear and from fish have been shown to keep blood strong and blood vessels clear, and help to prevent heart attack and stroke.

Not only in Nunavut, but throughout the world, recent changes to traditional lifestyles have resulted in people eating less healthy diets and being less active, which has led to weight gain, and sometimes, to disease.

Nutrition is important to prevent disease in adults, but it is also plays a critical role in keeping babies and children healthy. In Nunavut, some babies and children develop diseases that are caused by poor nutrition, resulting in weak bones and blood, and poor growth and brain development.

At the same time, we know that rates of obesity in children are rising, putting them at risk of developing diabetes and other chronic diseases down the road, which will compromise the quality of their life and could shorten their life span.

There are many ways to invest in the health of children, at an individual and a community level:

* Breastfeed your baby and encourage others to do this. Breast milk is the perfect food for babies.
* Be sure that you and your baby take the iron or vitamins prescribed by your nurse or doctor.
* Give country foods to your children. Country foods are rich in iron, vitamins and all the essential nutrients — if children start eating country food when they are young they develop a taste for it.
* Help to make country foods available to pregnant women and children in your community.
* Cut down the amount of pop children drink and substitute it with water or milk.
* Never give pop to babies.
* Discourage pop and chips at the schools in your community — they are a leading cause of obesity in children. They’re filling, but have few nutrients.

Efforts to support nutrition in communities are ongoing. Food banks and soup kitchens as well as programs like the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, breakfast programs for schools, the food mail subsidy and hunter support programs are helping to alleviate food scarcity.

Still, more can be done about food poverty if we are to see real improvement in the nutrition and health of Nunavummiut.

At the policy level, efforts to tackle income and food pricing must continue so that it is more affordable to eat a healthy diet. It is a challenge when less nutritious foods at the stores are often cheaper than healthier choices, and are also convenient, fast, packaged attractively and tasty. At the same time, creative ways of supporting availability and access to country foods must continue.

Healthy eating is an important way to prevent children from developing chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, which are common in southern Canada, but are still not common among Inuit in Nunavut. Chronic disease will be a burden on the health sector as well as on the economy of the territory, which depends on healthy workers.

Above all, we have the opportunity to prevent the tragedy of suffering that chronic disease presents. If we don’t commit now to protect the health and wellbeing of our children, we will all pay a far greater price in years to come.

Dr. Geraldine Osborne, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health
Amy Caughey, Nutritionist
Andrew Tagak Sr., IQ Coordinator
Department of Health and Social Services
Government of Nunavut