Canada's obesity rate grew faster after COVID-19 pandemic with women and young adults impacted more, study finds
According to researchers at McMaster University, obesity rates increased by an average of 0.5 per cent annually during the 11 years leading up to the pandemic. But between 2020 and 2023, the annual increase doubled to an average of just over one per cent. Over the 15-year study, women and younger adults in particular saw a larger increase in obesity rates than other groups — something the study points out has not been the case in the past.
The findings — which were
published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal Monday
— were based on the health data of nearly 750,000 Canadian adults over 18. It was collected through the annual Canadian Community Health Survey between 2009 to 2023.
Researchers used body mass index (BMI) as a metric for obesity — a measure that lead author and McMaster associate professor Laura Anderson acknowledged is not perfect.
'It is not a direct measure of body fat. It's also not a direct measure of health outcomes,' Anderson said. 'But for large, population-based studies where we're looking at screening, we can still use BMI because it is a proxy for obesity.'
The study does not go into the potential reasons for the jump in obesity rates coming out of the pandemic, but Anderson said she and the other researchers hypothesize that it was the changes to physical activity and sedentary time from public health lockdowns that likely contributed.
Anderson believes women and young adults were particularly affected due to added mental health challenges.
'We know that women had, in many cases, an additional burden of caregiving duties during the pandemic,' she said. 'It's possible the stress associated with caregiving and other different patterns of employment could be associated with the increased risk.'
Whether obesity rates continue to increase or start declining remains unclear, but Anderson stressed that any treatments or preventions for obesity cannot be one size fits all.
'Obesity is a complex condition with multiple different causes,' she said, adding that it can't all be blamed on individual-level behaviours.
'Shifting to more of an upstream thinking about changing the policies that can support health behaviours is really the way forward.'
Some of these changes could ensure people have access to healthier food or greater health education, or even making sure there are enough primary-care physicians available for people looking for help with their weight, Anderson said.
Sanjeev Sockalingam, a psychiatry professor at the University of Toronto and the scientific director for the advocacy group Obesity Canada, said it's important any treatment avoids any stigma.
'We need to think about compassionate approaches where we can mitigate this stigma and bias as much as we can,' he said, noting that many people living with obesity might worry about talking to their doctor about their weight due to bad experiences in the past.
Part of this means educating current and future health-care providers on how to have discussions around weight and obesity with patients, but also reducing biases within the greater public.
'Allies to patients who are living with obesity can be advocates as well to help with that change,' Sockalingam said.
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2 hours ago
- CNN
A former FDA chief's ‘brilliant' move to test the agency's commitment to making America healthy
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'Kessler has given the FDA a way to define the vast majority of ultra-processed foods. In doing so, he has handed RFK Jr a huge gift on the path to regulating these products. It's just what MAHA has asked for. I hope they take it seriously,' Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said in an email. Kessler proposed that companies have 12 months to submit a petition to keep those food additives in their products and then go on to prove they are safe. 'It's a very appropriate, worthy step to shift the burden of proof where it belongs and have the industry meet that burden, or stop using the substances.' said Michael Taylor, a former FDA food regulator and current co-chair of the nonprofit STOP Foodborne Illness. 'It's using the GRAS tool to really drive a serious safety conversation.' HHS did not respond to a request for comment. Federal health officials announced last month that they are looking for input on how to define ultraprocessed foods, a first step in eventually setting up new regulations, which could take months to years to establish. Kessler's petition could put pressure on that ultimately lengthy timeline; the agency is required to respond to the request within 180 days. Kessler, a physician who served as FDA commissioner under presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, and advised President Joe Biden during the Covid-19 pandemic, oversaw the agency when it began requiring nutrition labels on food products. He also spearheaded efforts for FDA to regulate tobacco in the 1990s and sees parallels to that fight. 'What was key in tobacco was finding the regulatory hook,' Kessler told CNN. 'It was about asking the right legal question that would frame the issue.' That has been the tricky part of setting up any regulatory standards for sugary and starchy foods, he said. The term ultra processed foods has resonated with the public, he said, but 'it's going to be hard to define, legally, what's in it.' But there is a pressing need to do that, he argues. The FDA allowed these ingredients under GRAS regulations four decades ago, and rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease have climbed in the years since, he wrote in his petition. The argument echoes Kennedy's own case for MAHA reforms to food policy. The petition focuses on refined flours and starches — which the body breaks down into sugars — that are subjected to food extrusion technology, including wheat, corn, tapioca, oat and potato flour. It also references refined sugars, including corn syrup, corn solids, dextrose, xylose, maltose, and high-fructose corn syrups. Finally, the petition targets any manufactured sugars, flours and starches that contain additives commonly used in today's ultraprocessed foods. Tackling the issue of too much sugar is a key to better health, experts CNN spoke with agree, but they say the real genius of Kessler's petition is his focus on additives. 'The food industry uses the emulsifiers, the stabilizers, the gels and the rest to make inexpensive, high volume, industrially processed foods,' said Christopher Gardner, director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. 'If you take those tools away from industry it's not that foods will taste bad and icky,' Gardner said. 'They won't be as addictive, as flavorful, as tasty — and industry has made these foods as manipulatively flavorful and manipulatively tasty. That's the problem.' Several food and nutrition experts heralded Kessler's petition as a bold move that would, if enacted by FDA, reshape the food industry. 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Michael Taylor was FDA's deputy commissioner for foods in 2015 when the agency revoked the GRAS status of partially hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, citing extensive research about their links to risks of heart disease and stroke. The agency gave companies three years to comply and remove those oils from their products. But at that time, 'the handwriting was on the wall' for industry and many companies had already stopped using those trans fats, Taylor said. 'Obviously the substances that [Kessler] is describing, it's a lot of … highly processed, fine carbohydrates, and a lot of products.' The petition lands as Trump administration officials, led by Kennedy, prepare to release their second MAHA report. While the MAHA Commission's first dispatch in June singled out potential drivers of chronic illnesses in children — including ingredients in ultraprocessed foods — its second installment is expected to lay out proposed policy changes. The report is due by Tuesday.
New York Post
2 hours ago
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This ‘dictator' of hormones has a major impact on sleep and metabolism — how to tell if your levels are out of whack
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Here's a look at how the test works — and how to improve cortisol levels. What does cortisol do? Cortisol is made and released by the adrenal glands in response to stress. Light exposure, diet and sleep also significantly influence cortisol levels. Cortisol can directly affect mood. It can lead to depression and anxiety if it's out of whack. Yura Yarema – The hormone dictates the body's fight-or-flight response, while helping to manage blood pressure and blood sugar levels and regulate immune function. 'It goes way beyond stress — it has an impact on all bodily functions,' Pavlovic Rivas said about cortisol. '[It's been] said that hormones are not a democracy, and that cortisol is the dictator,' she added. 'When cortisol is dysregulated, it has a trickle-down impact on all other hormones that also play a role in health.' How does the Eli Health test work? Eli Health recommends testing at least every two weeks to monitor your cortisol curve. 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Newsweek
3 hours ago
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Ohio Removes Over 600,000 People From Health Care Plan
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