Canadians are doing some things right but a lot wrong when it comes to good health.
Smoking is down and “we’re eating less fat, but drinking a lot of sugary soft drinks,” said Ronald Labonte, director of a public health research body connected with the universities of Saskatchewan and Regina.
He told a May 20 conference exploring health and biotechnology that people’s social environment and the amount of money they earn make a difference to their health. Not surprisingly, the wealthier you are, the better your health.
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One major problem is inactivity. More than half of all Canadians tell pollsters that they do nothing in their leisure time, said Labonte.
While teenagers as a group have stabilized their weight and stopped gaining, they are not losing it.
Teen eating and activity habits will mean heart trouble and diabetes when they are middle-aged, unless they change.
As for whether nutraceuticals can help improve health by customizing food with the vitamins and minerals we need, Labonte thought there would be only modest gains.
He also said nutraceutical advocates should find a way to reach poor people since they would gain the most from healthful food.
“Maybe make some statements of health outside your self-interest,” he advised nutraceutical advocates.
Another speaker at the conference, Dr. Joe Schwarcz of McGill University, agreed the nutraceutical industry must be careful in what it claims about health. It must police itself and avoid false statements of benefits or else it will dilute legitimate findings.
“It’s seductive to say, ‘if we eat the right stuff we’ll never get sick.’ There is lots of magic to convince people.”
While feeding flax to hens to create omega 3 eggs is useful, some ideas may be less so.
The herbs feverfew, ginseng, gingko balboa and even garlic can adversely affect blood pressure during surgery.
However, Schwarcz said, broccoli and its extracts can be used to fight cancer, high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries.
Dried whey, a byproduct of cheese making, is being sold in Europe because it has peptides that fight high blood pressure.
Golden rice that has been genetically modified to increase its vitamin A can prevent blindness in people in developing countries.
Okra has compounds that attack the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers.
The main point is to promote nutraceuticals that are based on scientifically proven facts, said Schwarcz.
