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Tag Archives: Dietitians of Canada

Excise tax recommended on sugar-sweetened beverages

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DC sugar tax position paper - 2

On February 9th, the Dietitians of Canada released a position paper recommending that an excise tax of at least 10-20% be applied to sugar-sweetened beverages sold in Canada. Sugar-sweetened beverages are defined as soft drinks/pop, fruit drinks, sports drinks, tea and coffee drinks, energy drinks, sweetened milks/milk alternatives, and any other beverages to which sugar has been added.

According to the position paper, there is moderate evidence linking consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to excess weight, obesity, and chronic disease in children and adults. An excise tax, unlike a sales tax, is levied before the point of purchase so that the price of the product itself will be higher. Since price is a major factor influencing food choices, it is thought that the excise tax will deter Canadians from purchasing sugar-sweetened beverages and lead to an overall lower consumption of them.

For the greatest impact, the Dietitians of Canada suggest that the taxation measures be combined with other policy interventions such as increasing access to healthy foods while decreasing access to unhealthy foods in schools, daycares, and recreation facilities; restrictions on the marketing of foods and beverages to children; and effective, long-term educational initiatives.

Sugar and sugar taxes are definitely hot nutrition issues. How do these issues affect your personal and business lives? We’ll share our insights and additional research at our upcoming Nutrition for NON-Nutritionists annual course – join us and be a part of the discussion!

The Power of Protein

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You may already know that protein helps build and repair body tissues as well as build antibodies that fight disease. Last month, the Canadian Nutrition Society in collaboration with Dietitians of Canada, hosted the Conference on Advances in Protein Nutrition Across the Lifespan.  We were there and heard an update from leading researchers in the field. Here are key highlights about the role of protein in exercise, weight loss and chronic disease management.

Athletes: Eating the right amount of protein at the right time has critical implications for athletes.  To build muscle, Dr. Stuart Phillips at McMaster University recommends eating four equally spaced protein containing meals per day, (0.25-0.3 g protein/kg body weight/meal), PLUS a 40 g protein intake at bedtime to ensure muscle building proteins are on board while you sleep. For those interested in protein supplements, whey is best since it’s a fast absorbing high quality protein.

Weight Loss & General Health: Eating enough protein helps you feel fuller. Keep snacking at bay, and include at least 30 g protein with each meal, especially at breakfast.

The quality of protein is an important consideration for meal planning, especially for vegetarian diets. How much protein containing food do you need to eat to meet your requirements for essential amino acids – the building blocks of protein? It depends on the source!  Foods containing high quality proteins require lower calorie intake to meet your essential amino acid requirements, according to Dr. Robert Wolfe, an expert on healthy aging from the University of Arkansas. For example, you may need to eat 6 times as many calories in chickpeas to get the amino acids available in one serving of lean turkey meat.

Aging & Chronic Illness: Muscle building in the body is triggered when enough of the amino acid leucine is present. When people consume small amounts of protein, the threshold of leucine needed to trigger muscle building may not be reached. Researchers including Dr. John Hoffer at the University of McGill recommend at least 30 g protein per meal to stimulate muscle building.  The tip for the ill and elderly patients may be to discourage nibbling, so they are sufficiently hungry at mealtime to eat enough protein to reach the threshold for muscle building to kick in.