(La Presse canadienne) — Quebecers like their pastries, alcohol, sweets, potato chips, popcorn and sugary soft drinks, an online study by Laval University made public Wednesday suggests.
Research results published in the Nutrition Journal by Benoît Lamarche of the university’s École de nutrition found that nearly a third of the calories consumed daily by all Quebecers comes from food of low nutritional benefit. Worse still, those empty calories count for about 38 per cent of the daily nutritional needs of about 25 per cent of the population.
“The overall quality of the food is not ideal. There is a significant proportion of Quebecers who have difficulties in eating well, but it’s not exclusively their fault,” Lamarche said. “It’s also closely linked to the habits we have, to the food choices that are offered, to the access to healthy foods.
“There are a lot of factors, but the result is, yes, in the adult population of Quebec there is a large proportion of calories that are coming from food of low nutritional value.” (…)