The glycemic index (GI) is a system that ranks foods according to the blood glucose-increasing potential of servings of foods that provide the same amount of available carbohydrate. The GI was originally developed as a tool for carbohydrate exchange in the dietary management of glycemia in persons with diabetes, and studies have generally supported modest benefits of low-GI diets in this population. Despite inconsistent results for the utility of the GI in the nondiabetic population, there is some interest in its universal application on food labels to assist consumers in making food choices that would help them meet their dietary goals. The objective of this review was to evaluate the usefulness of including the GI values of foods as part of the information on food labels in Canada. Health Canada's assessment identified 3 areas of concern with respect to GI labeling: 1) the GI measure has poor accuracy and precision for labeling purposes; 2) as a ratio, the GI does not vary in response to the amount of food consumed and the partial replacement of available carbohydrates with unavailable carbohydrates, whereas the glycemic response does; and 3) an unintended focus on the GI for food selection could lead to food choices that are inconsistent with national dietary guidelines. Hence, Health Canada's current opinion is that the inclusion of the GI value on the label of eligible food products would be misleading and would not add value to nutrition labeling and dietary guidelines in assisting consumers to make healthier food choices.

Research conducted in the mid-1990s indicated that the levels of Trans fats in Canadian diets were among the highest in the world. The consumption of Trans fats raises blood levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, while reducing levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol. In June 2007, Health Canada called on the food industry to voluntarily reduce levels of Trans fats in vegetable oils and soft (tub)-margarines to <2 of total fat, and in all other foods, to <5. Industry must show satisfactory progress by June 2009, or Health Canada might have to introduce legislation to ensure that recommended limits are achieved. Since 2005, Health Canada has been performing a national assessment of prepackaged and restaurant foods that likely contain Trans fats. From 2005 to 2009, 1120 samples were analyzed, of which 852 or approximately 76 met the recommended Trans fat limits. As a result of reformulation, most of the products had decreased Trans + saturated fat content. The estimated average intake of Trans fatty acids (TFA) in Canada significantly dropped from the high value of 8.4 g/day in the mid-1990s to 3.4 g/day (or 1.4 food energy) in 2008. However, this TFA intake of 1.4 of energy is still above the World Health Organization recommended limit of TFA intake of <1 of energy, which suggests that the Canadian food industry needs to put more effort into reducing the TFA content in its products, especially in tub-margarines, donuts, and bakery products.

Dietary trans fatty acids (TFA) are of major concern because of their adverse effects on blood lipid levels and coronary heart disease. In Canada, margarines were significant sources of TFA during the 1980s and 1990s. However, this is expected to change with increased public awareness over their adverse health effects and the introduction of new legislature to include TFA content on the Nutritional Facts table of food labels. In this study, the TFA content of the top‐selling 29 Canadian margarines, which represented 96.3% of the market share, was determined by capillary gas‐liquid chromatography in order to assess the influence of regulatory development during the 3‐year transition period between the announcement of new food labelling regulations in Canada that require mandatory declaration of the trans fat content in most pre‐packaged foods in January 2003 and its enforcement on 12 December 2005. The 29 margarines included 15 tub margarines made from non‐hydrogenated vegetable oils (NHVO‐tub margarines), 11 tub margarines made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVO‐tub margarines) and three print margarines, which were also made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVO‐print margarines). The 15 NHVO tub‐margarines accounted for 71% of the total margarine market share and generally contained less than 2% TFA (mean value 0.9 ± 0.3% of total fatty acids). The mean total TFA contents of PHVO‐tub margarines and PHVO‐print margarines, were 20.0 ± 4.5% and 39.6 ± 3.5%, and their market shares were 19.3 and 6.0%, respectively. Although during the last 10 years, increasing number of soft tub margarines that contained very little trans fats have been made available in Canada, the PHVO‐tub‐ and ‐print margarines still contain high levels of trans fats similar to those margarines that were sold in the 1990s. The market share data suggest that the margarines prepared using NHVO and containing almost no TFA were preferred by Canadians over those margarines prepared using PHVO, even before the mandatory declaration of TFA content came into effect on 12 December 2005.

rans fats or trans fatty acids (TFAs) are unsaturated fatty acids that have at least one of the carbon-carbon double bonds in the trans configuration, as opposed to the majority of dietary unsaturated fatty acids that have the double bonds in the cis configuration. While TFAs are found naturally at low levels in dairy products and meat from ruminant animals, they are also industrially produced, during the conversion of liquid oils to solid fats via partial hydrogenation. The partially hydrogenated oils are attractive to food manufacturers as they enhance the taste and texture of food products and increase their shelf-life. 1 Partially hydrogenated oils can be found in shortenings and margarines and are used in the preparation of a variety of foods, including fried foods and bakery products. These readily available pre-packaged foods such as cookies, crackers and baked goods are potential sources of TFAs.Recently, there has been a lot of focus on TFAs because of their negative health implications. Studies have shown that TFAs contribute to cardiovascular disease. 2 Trans fats increase the blood levels of LDL-cholesterol and lower HDL-cholesterol. 3 High LDL-cholesterol and low HDL-cholesterol are strong risk factors for coronary heart disease. In the mid-1990s, the Canadian intake of TFAs was among the highest in the world due to the widespread use of partially hydrogenated canola oil in the preparation of various food products such as margarines, fried foods and bakery products. 4 Food labels have been shown to influence consumer purchasing behaviours. In a 1996 diet and health survey, it was reported that 48% of consumers changed their purchasing decision based on the nutrition information on the label. 5 In 2003, the Government of Canada introduced mandatory nutrition labelling regulations including mandatory declaration of the amount of TFAs in the Nutrition Facts table (NFT), making Canada the first country in the world to do so. 6 The inclusion of TFAs in the NFT has helped Canadians to make informed dietary decisions. Thus, the accuracy of what is reported in the NFTs is important for informed decisions. This study aims to provide a snapshot of the accuracy of the reported TFA and saturated fatty acid (SFA) values in the NFTs of selected foods found within the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa and Vancouver. METHODS Design and sampling strategyOver 380 samples were collected in the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa and Vancouver from local grocery stores between 2005 and 2008. The food categories sampled included granola bars, crackers, cookies, breakfast bars and frozen foods. The food categories were chosen since these foods were previously identified as significant sources of TFAs. 7 The individual products within each category were selected based on market share data. Detailed sample collection for individual food products, organized by food category, company, date of collection and brand name information, can be found on

Interest in the health effects of foods by both industry and consumers has put a spotlight on the role of health claims on foods in Canada. The current regulatory framework governing the use of different health claims on foods in Canada is described and compared with international approaches. Similarities were observed in how risk-reduction claims for serious diseases are managed in the United States, European Union and proposed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, including the need for premarket authorization and the requirement for a high level of certainty based on the totality of evidence in substantiating this type of claim. However, approaches to permitting function claims other than those for the well-established functions of known nutrients are divergent among the jurisdictions compared. Canada also differs from other jurisdictions in not establishing core nutritional criteria for foods carrying disease risk-reduction claims. A brief overview of the status in Canada of a number of disease risk-reduction claims that have been approved in the United States, based on significant scientific agreement under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act or through authoritative statements under the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act, is also provided.