One of the country's top experts in nutrition believes that far too much of Canada's health-care budget is consumed by treating chronic disease. The fix, he says, is for the agriculture industry to partner-up with government and universities to prevent diseases that stem from unhealthy diets.
ALES alumnus G. Harvey Anderson, a professor of nutritional sciences and physiology at the University of Toronto and the executive director of the Child Centre for Nutrition and Health, delivered the Ronald O. Ball Lectureship in Food and Agriculture and said more than 67 per cent of our health-care funds go to treating chronic diseases such as obesity, and other ailments related to our poor and excessive eating.
Meanwhile, the cost of fighting obesity in Canada rose from $3.9 to $4.6 billion between 2000 and 2008.
"If we keep doing that with health care, we won't have any money for roads, universities, infrastructure, etc.," said Anderson.
His lecture was part of the ALES 100 Centennial Lecture Series, delivered to more than 100 students, faculty and alumni at the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, on October 13.
Anderson pointed out that less than .5 per cent of the health-care budget is spent on prevention, yet the food industry has shelled out vast amounts catering to not-scientifically sound, consumer-driven trends such as gluten-free food.
"The industry shoots itself in the foot," he said, by focusing on economics instead of actively researching and promoting the health benefits of its foods. He pointed to the decline in grain, potato and milk consumption as examples of this, noting that all are healthy foods being illogically shunned.
By integrating health research into every step of the agri-food system, Canada could reap more benefits from crops we are very good at growing, including canola, potatoes, flax and pulses.
"Why do we worry about olive oil?" Anderson asked, noting that it's expensive and a burden on the environment to ship from abroad, while canola oil is healthy, balanced and locally available. Flax is a superb source of omega-3 fatty acids. Pulses have great potential for glucose control and weight management, but our industry needs to take more interest in processing and production to create consumer-friendly products such as pasta, he said. Instead we're merely exporting pulses.
Other countries are ahead of Canada in integration, said Anderson, citing Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands, where agri-food and medical studies are part of the same university faculties. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture takes responsibility for nutrition policy.
Anderson acknowledged that Canada's agriculture and health care sectors have contributed to a decrease in mortality rates (down 75 per cent since 1952 and 40 per cent in the last decade).
"We're doing something right, but it's expensive," he said. "We are solving the problem with drugs, not food."
With the agri-food and health-care industries researching a healthy food supply together, we could create more effective food policies, too, he said.
"We can't just be introducing a policy of taxing sugar," he said. "It's tempting, but the impact is totally unproven and it's not likely to be very strong."
ALES alumnus G. Harvey Anderson, a professor of nutritional sciences and physiology at the University of Toronto and the executive director of the Child Centre for Nutrition and Health, delivered the Ronald O. Ball Lectureship in Food and Agriculture and said more than 67 per cent of our health-care funds go to treating chronic diseases such as obesity, and other ailments related to our poor and excessive eating.
Meanwhile, the cost of fighting obesity in Canada rose from $3.9 to $4.6 billion between 2000 and 2008.
"If we keep doing that with health care, we won't have any money for roads, universities, infrastructure, etc.," said Anderson.
His lecture was part of the ALES 100 Centennial Lecture Series, delivered to more than 100 students, faculty and alumni at the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, on October 13.
Anderson pointed out that less than .5 per cent of the health-care budget is spent on prevention, yet the food industry has shelled out vast amounts catering to not-scientifically sound, consumer-driven trends such as gluten-free food.
"The industry shoots itself in the foot," he said, by focusing on economics instead of actively researching and promoting the health benefits of its foods. He pointed to the decline in grain, potato and milk consumption as examples of this, noting that all are healthy foods being illogically shunned.
By integrating health research into every step of the agri-food system, Canada could reap more benefits from crops we are very good at growing, including canola, potatoes, flax and pulses.
"Why do we worry about olive oil?" Anderson asked, noting that it's expensive and a burden on the environment to ship from abroad, while canola oil is healthy, balanced and locally available. Flax is a superb source of omega-3 fatty acids. Pulses have great potential for glucose control and weight management, but our industry needs to take more interest in processing and production to create consumer-friendly products such as pasta, he said. Instead we're merely exporting pulses.
Other countries are ahead of Canada in integration, said Anderson, citing Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands, where agri-food and medical studies are part of the same university faculties. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture takes responsibility for nutrition policy.
Anderson acknowledged that Canada's agriculture and health care sectors have contributed to a decrease in mortality rates (down 75 per cent since 1952 and 40 per cent in the last decade).
"We're doing something right, but it's expensive," he said. "We are solving the problem with drugs, not food."
With the agri-food and health-care industries researching a healthy food supply together, we could create more effective food policies, too, he said.
"We can't just be introducing a policy of taxing sugar," he said. "It's tempting, but the impact is totally unproven and it's not likely to be very strong."