Food and Nutrition Security
-
Background and Purpose
-
Winnipeg Food Atlas
-
Nutritious Food Basket/Food Costing
-
Links to Additional Resources
<
>
Background and Purpose
The Food and Nutrition Security Knowledge Portal provides a knowledge base for assessing Nutrition and Food Security in Winnipeg and Manitoba. The information found here can be used to engage and educate the public and other stakeholders, and to inform policies, programs and advocacy for healthy eating, for all Manitobans.
Food and nutrition security are defined below. They are equally important for ensuring a healthy population – people need to be able to afford healthy food (food security), and they need to actually eat a healthy diet (nutrition security). The relationship between food and nutrition security is explained through the Sustainable Livelihoods for Food and Nutrition Security Framework.
Definitions:
Participating partners in the development of the Food and Nutrition Security Knowledge Portal are the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, Food Matters Manitoba, Winnipeg Harvest, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and the University of Manitoba (Project Lead: Dr. Joyce Slater, University of Manitoba).
The Portal will be updated as new information becomes available. If you have any comments or questions please email Dr. Joyce Slater.
Food and nutrition security are defined below. They are equally important for ensuring a healthy population – people need to be able to afford healthy food (food security), and they need to actually eat a healthy diet (nutrition security). The relationship between food and nutrition security is explained through the Sustainable Livelihoods for Food and Nutrition Security Framework.
Definitions:
- Food security is having sufficient resources to obtain adequate food
- Nutrition security refers to adequate nutrition status in terms of micro- and macro-nutrients
Participating partners in the development of the Food and Nutrition Security Knowledge Portal are the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, Food Matters Manitoba, Winnipeg Harvest, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and the University of Manitoba (Project Lead: Dr. Joyce Slater, University of Manitoba).
The Portal will be updated as new information becomes available. If you have any comments or questions please email Dr. Joyce Slater.
Winnipeg Food Atlas
What is the Winnipeg Food Atlas?
The Winnipeg Food Atlas is a community-developed resource to facilitate discussion and action around food and nutrition security issues in the Winnipeg Health Region. The Atlas spatially depicts the Winnipeg Health Region foodscape and important contextual features. Participating partners include: Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, Food Matters Manitoba, Winnipeg Harvest, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and the University of Manitoba (Project Lead: Dr. Joyce Slater, University of Manitoba).
The Winnipeg Food Atlas consists of two interactive components: 1) a mapping application, and 2) supporting data dashboards. These tools allow users to assess food-related assets by City Ward and neighborhoods, and to explore how indicators of food and nutrition insecurity vary across the Winnipeg Health Region.
The Winnipeg Food Atlas is a community-developed resource to facilitate discussion and action around food and nutrition security issues in the Winnipeg Health Region. The Atlas spatially depicts the Winnipeg Health Region foodscape and important contextual features. Participating partners include: Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, Food Matters Manitoba, Winnipeg Harvest, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and the University of Manitoba (Project Lead: Dr. Joyce Slater, University of Manitoba).
The Winnipeg Food Atlas consists of two interactive components: 1) a mapping application, and 2) supporting data dashboards. These tools allow users to assess food-related assets by City Ward and neighborhoods, and to explore how indicators of food and nutrition insecurity vary across the Winnipeg Health Region.
Winnipeg Food Atlas Launch:
The Winnipeg Food Atlas was launched on Feb. 5th, 2020. Click here (or on the image at the right) to access a copy of the Powerpoint presentation from the launch. The three open access articles referred to in the presentation are linked below: |
- GBD 2017 Diet Collaborators. Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet, May 11, 2019. Vol 393: 1958-1972. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30041-8. Open Access.
- Mozaffarian, D. Dietary and policy priorities to reduce the global crises of obesity and diabetes. Nature Food, January 13, 2020. Vol 1: 38-50. Open Access.
- Diabetes 360: A Framework for a Diabetes Strategy for Canada. Recommendations for Governments, July 2018.
What can you do with the Winnipeg Food Atlas?
See the Overview Document which describes the components of the Food Atlas and what you can do with it.
See the Overview Document which describes the components of the Food Atlas and what you can do with it.
How to Use the Winnipeg Food Atlas:
The data in the Food Atlas is organized in three categories:
The data in the Food Atlas is organized in three categories:
- Contextual Layers: 2016 Census data and administrative boundaries
- Food Assets: food banks, community gardens, farmers markets, grocery stores
- Indicators of Food and Nutrition Insecurity: food deserts, diabetes prevalence, life expectancy
A) Mapping:
- To load the interactive Food Atlas map, click on the map image below.
- See the The Food Atlas Mapping Tutorial Resources page for how to use the Food Atlas mapping tools.
- To load an interactive dashboard, click on one of the dashboard images below.
- Specific instructions are below the dashboards.
Interactive Food Atlas Map
(Click on the map image below to load the Atlas)
(Click on the map image below to load the Atlas)
Diabetes Dashboards
(Launch a dashboard by clicking on one of the images below)
(Launch a dashboard by clicking on one of the images below)
Nutrition and food insecurity lead to type II diabetes for many people. Research clearly indicates that dietary choices, driven by environmental and economic factors, are crucial in diabetes development and prevention. The diabetes dashboards provide important detail about diabetes prevalence and costs in Winnipeg. Associated environmental and economic factors can be explored using the Interactive Food Atlas Map.
- A) Estimated Diabetes Cases and Costs for 2016 dashboard: This dashboard can be used to explore the estimated burden of illness and costs related to diabetes in the Winnipeg Health Region by Winnipeg neighborhood, community area, and electoral ward for the year 2016.
- B) Projection of Diabetes Cases and Costs, 2016-2032 dashboard: This dashboard can be used to explore trends in projected cases and costs of diabetes for the years 2016 to 2032 at the Winnipeg Health Region level.
How to Use the Diabetes Dashboards:
1. Launch the Dashboard: Click on one of the images above to launch the dashboard of interest.
2. Filter the results: Click into one of the filter drop-down boxes at the top of each dashboard and choosing only the sub-set of interest.
3. Filtering the A.) Estimated Diabetes Cases and Costs for 2016 dashboard:
6. Export Images and Tables: To export a high quality image of the dashboard click on the download icon at the bottom of screen and click either Image (for a .png file), PDF (for an Adobe Acrobat file) or Powerpoint (separate powerpoint slide for each dashboard object). Note that PDF and Powerpoint exported directly out of Tableau can be messy, and more reliable way of exporting the screen images is to use the Snipping Tool.
1. Launch the Dashboard: Click on one of the images above to launch the dashboard of interest.
2. Filter the results: Click into one of the filter drop-down boxes at the top of each dashboard and choosing only the sub-set of interest.
3. Filtering the A.) Estimated Diabetes Cases and Costs for 2016 dashboard:
- To view detailed information for a particular neighborhood, click on the neighborhood of interest in the left hand bar chart.
- To choose more than one neighborhood, hold down the Cntrl key and then click multiple neighborhoods. To clear a specific neighborhood selection, click the ESC key, or click in the white space within the neighborhood chart.
- To see only the sub-set of neighborhoods that fall into a particular Community Area or Ward, filter the neighborhood bar chart using the geographic filters at the top right of the dashboard. To do this , click the down arrow in one of the selection boxes, unclick the ALL box, and then click on the geographic area(s) of interest. When you do this, the rest of the dashboard will refresh to reflect your selection criteria.
- To sort the neighborhoods alphabetically in the left-hand bar chart (instead of by the default population size), click on the small down-arrow beside the neighborhood label on the left hand bar chart (see the image below), and then click on the Alphabetic menu choice. Neighborhoods will now be sorted alphabetically. This can be helpful in finding a particular neighborhood.
6. Export Images and Tables: To export a high quality image of the dashboard click on the download icon at the bottom of screen and click either Image (for a .png file), PDF (for an Adobe Acrobat file) or Powerpoint (separate powerpoint slide for each dashboard object). Note that PDF and Powerpoint exported directly out of Tableau can be messy, and more reliable way of exporting the screen images is to use the Snipping Tool.
Nutritious Food Basket/Food Costing
“A nutritious food basket is a survey tool that is a measure of the cost of basic healthy eating that represents current nutrition recommendations and average food purchasing patterns. Food costing can be used to monitor both affordability and accessibility of foods by relating the cost of the food basket to individual/familyincomes.” (Ontario Ministry of Health, 2009 ). Most provinces collect nutritious food basket data regularly, through health departments. Click here to see provincial reports from across Canada.
In 2011, the Community Health Through Food Security group released the report The cost of eating according to the 'Nutritious Food Basket' in Manitoba. This report assessed the cost of purchasing a Nutritious Food Basket consisting of 67 food items considered to be basic ingredients for healthy eating.
An updated food costing analysis was undertaken in Manitoba in 2017 by a coalition of government and community agencies. To date the data and report have not been released by Manitoba Healthy Living and Seniors.
In 2011, the Community Health Through Food Security group released the report The cost of eating according to the 'Nutritious Food Basket' in Manitoba. This report assessed the cost of purchasing a Nutritious Food Basket consisting of 67 food items considered to be basic ingredients for healthy eating.
An updated food costing analysis was undertaken in Manitoba in 2017 by a coalition of government and community agencies. To date the data and report have not been released by Manitoba Healthy Living and Seniors.
Links to Additional Resources
Teaching Resources:
FANLit is a knowledge portal of evidence-based resources to support food and nutrition education. These resources can be used by school- and community-based educators teaching children & youth ages 4-18. Though our main audience is in Manitoba, Canada, anyone can use them. The portal is a living entity - resources will be added over time as they are developed. FANLit was developed, and is hosted by, the Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences at the University of Manitoba, and is overseen by a Community of Practice consisting of teachers, dietitians and community-based educators.
|
Local Nutrition Research:
FANS: Building Evidence to Inform Policies and Programs for Food And Nutrition Security in Manitoba Youth.
FANS is a 4-year research study (2018-2022) that aims to describe the conditions of food and nutrition security (FANS) for urban, rural and northern Manitoba youth. FANS will also investigate how the intersection of these conditions impacts health and educational outcomes, in order to inform effective program and policy development. The study has collected diet, food security, and food & health behavior data from almost 1600 grade 9 students through Manitoba. The study is led by Dr. Joyce Slater, Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba, and has over 20 academic, government and community partners. Once the data has been analyzed, results will be made available here on the Nutrition and Food Security Portal. FANS is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. |
Brandon Food Council:
The Brandon Food Council is a citizen-led group formed in 2019 with the Brandon Food Charter as its mandate, to develop and implement a just and sustainable community based food system through collaborative partnerships, strategy development and community engagement. The Council coordinates a network of diverse sectors and stakeholders to develop and implement the Brandon Food Strategy and advocate for solutions to food insecurity. The Brandon Council is coordinated by Oliva Boyce.
Dr. Dion Wiseman and his students from the Brandon University have been undertaking a number of food desert analyses in Brandon. Click on the image at the left to see an example of this exciting work. |
Manitoba Organizations:
Media Reports on Winnipeg Food Deserts
Food Security
- Food Matters Manitoba:
- Food Matters (home page)
- Community Area Food Assessments
- Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba:
- Child Nutrition Council (home page)
- City of Winnipeg Food Council
- FoodBanks:
- Winnipeg Harvest
- Food Banks Canada (home page)
- 2016 Hunger Report (contains information on Manitoba Foodbank Usage)
Media Reports on Winnipeg Food Deserts
- Metro News, June 22, 2016: New Study Finds 120,000 Winnipegers are Insecure
- Winnipeg Sun, June 22, 2016: Food Mirages just as Dangerous as Deserts
- CBC News, June 22, 2016: Hunger in Winnipeg: More Grocery Stores Won't Fix Inner-City Problem, Study Says
- CBC News, Dec. 3, 2015: Think Food Deserts and Just an Inner-City Problem?
- CBC News, Dec. 3, 2015: Winnipeg's Suburban Dream May be the Food Desert of the Future
- CBC News, Dec 2, 2015: Food Deserts, Not Just in Winnipeg's Inner City
- CBC News, Dec 2, 2015: Buying Groceries a Long Trek for Family in Winnipeg Food Desert
- The Wave (WRHA), Dec. 2014: Making the (Food) Deserts Bloom
Food Security
- Household Food Security by Living Arrangement (Statistics Canada, 2015/16)
- PROOF Food Insecurity Policy Research, Nutritious Food Basket