Nutrition Policy in Canada, 1870-1939

Nutrition Policy in Canada, 1870-1939, examines the historical alliances among industry, public health professionals, and the departments of agriculture and health in relation to the emergence of Canada’s food safety system and the development of dietary standards and nutrition policy.

Using both extant secondary historical sources as well as primary documents, Aleck Ostry shows how the medical profession became actively involved in dispensing nutritional advice during the Great Depression. As the economy worsened, Canada, in concert with other nations, conducted dietary surveys in an attempt to determine the nutritional status of Canadians. Canada also instituted the world’s first modern national dietary standard and, by the eve of World War II, had developed a national nutrition policy institution, the Canadian Council on Nutrition. Ostry surveys these early developments in nutrition policy in the context of changing food security concerns, particularly during the challenging economic times of the 1930s when, paradoxically, the health status of the population improved dramatically.

Particularly relevant in an era in which food security issues steal headlines, Nutrition Policy in Canada, 1870-1939, will appeal to scholars and students interested in nutrition and food security as well as to policy makers and practitioners in the areas of nutrition and community health.