Quantifying associations of the dietary share of ultra-processed foods with overall diet quality in First Nations peoples in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario

Abstract

UPF were prevalent in First Nations diets. Efforts to curb UPF consumption and increase intake of traditional First Nations foods and other fresh or minimally processed foods would improve diet quality and health in First Nations peoples.

Factors associated with the intake of traditional foods in theEeyou Istchee(Cree) of northern Quebec include age, speaking the Cree language and food sovereignty indicators

“…The analyses were also unweighted, so they may not be completely representative of this population. Our results may also not be representative of other Canadian First Nations with rates of obesity that are considerably lower than among the participants in the present study [9,56]. …”

“…Since all quintiles of TF intake had BMI with geometric means greater than 30, the results may not be clinically relevant. In the present study, UPP intake decreased with increasing TF consumption, like another study in Canadian First Nations [9]. These findings suggest that those who eat TF most often have a healthier diet not only because TF has inherent health attributes but because it also replaces UPP in the diet…”

“…To ensure quality control, a research assistant reviewed the recalls daily and provided feedback as necessary. Foods from the 24-h dietary recalls that were soft drinks and juices, commercial breads, sweet and salty snacks and ready-to-eat meals were categorised as UPP using the NOVA classification [10] similar to other studies examining the diet of First Nations in 4 Canadian regions and elsewhere in the same Eeyouch population [9,14]. Per cent of energy intake from UPP was determined from the ratio of UPP energy divided by total dietary energy from all foods.…”

“…Diminished TF consumption has been accompanied by an increased consumption of store-bought market foods (MF) and increased sedentariness [3]. Although nutritious MF could be an important complement to TF in the diet, a large portion of First Nations’ diets consists of MF that are ultra-processed food and drinks (that is, ultra-processed products (UPP)) of poor nutritional quality [9]. The prevalence of these highly processed foods and drinks in the diet is likely the result of their ubiquity in rural and remote stores, which is attributable to their long shelf life and light weight making them ideal products for shipping over long distances.…”

“…Using data from the Nituuchischaayihtitaau Aschii Multi-Community (E&H) study, we explored the relationship between food sovereignty proxy variables and socio-economic, dietary, lifestyle and health factors that are associated with TF consumption in the Eeyouch . Diet was assessed using the NOVA method to classify foods as UPP considering the success that we had with this method in examining the diet of the Eeyouch and other First Nations in 4 Canadian regions [9,14]. In this study, having a hunter in the home and receiving Income Security for hunters and trappers (a programme whereby Eeyouch are paid an annual income to spend time on the land hunting, trapping and fishing) were considered proxy indicators of food sovereignty as they signify individuals were engaged in cultural food procurement activities from the local food system.…”