A. Kosteniuk, T. Sparks, E. Fedusiak, K. Rei Rivera, A. Vanzan, J. Lieffers.
College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK.

Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) was updated in 2019. In addition to providing information on what to eat, CFG 2019 emphasizes four healthy eating habits (HEH): be mindful of your eating habits, cook more often, enjoy your food, and eat meals with others. To date, information about awareness of CFG 2019 and practice of these HEH is limited in university populations.

To determine whether the University of Saskatchewan (USask) community is aware of CFG 2019 and whether they follow its HEH recommendations.

Fourteen survey questions (e.g., multiple-choice and select all that apply) were developed and uploaded to SurveyMonkey. Question topics included demographics, CFG 2019 awareness, and practice of the CFG 2019 HEH (e.g., number of restaurant or take-out meals eaten, ways participants enjoyed their food, number of meals eaten with others, and different mindful eating habits practiced). Current USask students and staff/faculty were eligible to participate; recruitment occurred in October/2021 through the USask online announcement channel and email. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

145 individuals participated; the largest demographic groups were female (76.6%), student (85.5%), age ≤ 24y (65.3%), and had never taken a university-level nutrition course (71.7%). Overall, 40.7% of respondents reported awareness of CFG 2019. Participants who had taken a university-level nutrition course were more likely to be aware of CFG 2019 versus those who had not (73.2% vs. 27.9%). When asked how frequently and ways in which participants practiced the four CFG 2019 HEH in the last week, 55.6% ate at restaurants or ordered take-out once or less; 67.6% enjoyed their food regardless of their schedule; and 31.2% ate meals with others > 8 times. Only 9.0% did not practice mindful eating. Participants who were aware of CFG 2019 practiced the most mindful eating habits on average.

Awareness of CFG 2019 was low. Although many participants reported cooking, enjoying their food, and eating meals with others, there is room for improvement in implementing these HEH.

CFG 2019 should be promoted more in various settings (including universities) to improve awareness of the latest food guide and increase HEH.

USask Office of the Vice-President Research (FYRE program).