Recipients Announced: 2016 Public Policy and Child Nutrition Collaborative Grant
Answering key questions in child nutrition can help improve the health of children and families. That’s why we’re funding collaborative research projects that focus on the food environment of children through the 2016 Public Policy and Child Nutrition Collaborative Grant. With a special interest in the evaluation of current policies that target children, our goal is to provide evidence to support effective public policy promoting child nutrition and health.
We are proud to announce the recipients of the 2016 Public Policy and Child Nutrition Collaborative Grant which will forward this goal. Recipients will receive up to $250,000 over a three year period.
Recipient 1 The implications of household food insecurity for maternal and infant health
V. Tarasuk, M. Urquia, D. Roth.
Purpose: Household food insecurity affects 17.6% of new mothers in Canada. Our objectives are to: i) determine how household food insecurity affects pregnancy and birth outcomes; and ii) identify the maternal characteristics and household circumstances associated with household food insecurity at this life-stage.
INVESTIGATORS
Valerie Tarasuk, Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.
Marcelo Urquia, Assistant Professor, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, University of Manitoba, Scientist, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Assistant Professor, St Michael’s Hospital and Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto.
Daniel Roth,Hospital Physician, Hospital for Sick Children, and Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics and Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto.
Based on our research findings, we will work with PHAC and PROOF’s established stakeholder networks to develop policy recommendations to lessen the risks of food insecurity in pregnancy and reduce food insecurity among families. These recommendations will be communicated to provincial, territorial and federal policy makers through discussion papers and policy briefs
Recipient 2 Measurement and monitoring of the food environment and its effects on malnutrition and health in school-aged children and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries
The proposed work aims to both improve our substantive understanding of the relationships between food environments and diet-related health outcomes among school-aged children and adolescents in low-and middle-income country (LMIC) settings, and advance our methodological approaches to assessing and monitoring the food environments in such settings, particularly those aspects that pertain to school-aged children and adolescents.
1. Investigators
1.1 Names and titles of applicants
Principal Investigator:
Dr Zulfiqar A Bhutta, PhD, MBBS, FRCPCH, FAAP
Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences & Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH)
Co-Director, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health
Co-Principal Investigator:
Dr Daniel Roth, MD, MSc, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics & Department of Nutritional Sciences
Scientist, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health
Co-Investigators:
Ms Michelle Gaffey, MA, MSc, PhD candidate (DLSPH)
Senior Research Manager, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health
Dr Luz Maria De-Regil, DSc, MSc
Director, Research and Evaluation & Chief Technical Advisor, Micronutrient Initiative
Collaborator:
Dr Lynnette Neufeld, PhD
Director of Monitoring, Learning and Research, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
Other Project Team Members:
Ms Nadia Akseer, MSc, PhD candidate (DLSPH)
Biostatistician, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health
Ms Jo-Anna Baxter, MSc, PhD candidate (UofT Department of Nutritional Sciences)
Ms Susan Campisi, MSc, PhD student (UofT Department of Nutritional Sciences)
Dr Amira Khan, MBBS
Research Analyst, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health
CCHN Public Policy and Child Nutrition Collaborative Grant 2016
Proposal submission: Dr ZA Bhutta (PI) 2
Ms Bianca Carducci, MSc
Research Analyst, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health
Dr Zohra Lassi, PhD
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Adelaide
Dr Jai Das, MBBS, MBA
Senior Instructor, Aga Khan University
Ms Rehana Salam, MSc, PhD candidate (University of Adelaide)
Senior Instructor, Aga Khan University
Recipient 3 Evaluating Food Environment Policies to Support Healthy Eating among Children – L’Abbé et al
The objective of this study is to examine the nutritional quality of foods most relevant to children and determine the impact of three food environment policies (voluntary sodium reduction targets, Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, and menu labelling) on the nutritional quality of foods and dietary intakes of children, while considering the unintended consequences of these policies. Foods and beverages most relevant to children will be defined as those most frequently consumed by children (CCHS 2015 data) and most heavily marketed to children (Nielsen Media advertising data). Building on existing 2010 and 2013 databases, we will systematically collect nutritional information of foods from the largest Canadian grocery retailers and restaurants in 2017. Changes in nutrients (calories, sodium, total and free sugar, saturated fat) and overall healthiness of foods will be determined before and after policy implementation. Data will be linked with CCHS 2015 intake data for children to examine how these policies affect dietary intakes; we will also model the impact with varying policy targets and levels of success. The study will provide critical evidence to evaluate the impacts of selected food environment policies on the nutritional health of children and will inform future policy development in Canada
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1. INVESTIGATORS NAME AFFILIATION ROLE
Dr. Mary L’Abbé Professor, Nutritional Sciences (DNS), UofT PI
Dr. Elena Comelli Assist Professor, DNS, UofT Co-I
Dr. Erin Hobin Scientist, Public Health Ontario, Adj Assist Prof, Dalla
Lana School of Public Health, UofT, Adj Assist Prof,
DNS, UofT
Co-I Dr. Monique P Kent Assist Prof, Epi Public Hlth & Prevent Med, U of Ottawa
Co-I Dr. Jonathon Maguire Assoc Prof, Paedtrics and DNS, UofT; Scientist, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital
Co-I Dr. Debbie O’Connor Professor, DNS, UofT and Sr Assoc Scientist, Hospital for Sick Children
Co-I Dr. Nav Persaud Assist Prof, Dept of Family and Community Medicine,
UofT; Assoc Scientist, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital
Co-I Dr. JoAnne Arcand Assistant Professor, University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Co-I Dr. Mahsa Jessri Banting PDF, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Univ of Ottawa
Co-I Dr. Marie-Eve Labonte CIHR PDF, DNS, UofT
Co-I Dr. Lana Vanderlee Banting PDF, DNS, UofT
Co-I Manuel Arango* Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada Policy
Collaborators: Dr. Hasan Hutchison* Health Canada – Office of Nutr Policy and Promotion Policy, Janice Macdonald* Dietitians of Canada ,Dr. Heather Manson* Public Health Ontario Policy, Dr. Tom Warshawski* Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition Policy, Dr. William Yan* Health Canada – Food Directorate Policy Collab
