Fostering Healthy Eating Habits in Children and Youth

ABOUT US

Our mission

 We are dedicated to promoting healthy eating habits through supportive nutrition environments in which children learn, work and play. Our works seeks to understand how children's food environments influence behaviours, with the goal of designing effective and scalable interventions to improve children’s physical, mental and social health and well-being.

Research focus areas

Monitoring children's eating practices

We examine children's dietary behaviours and the factors that shape them using large population-based surveys and longitudinal cohorts. Our work also includes methodological research to advance and validate tools for measuring diet outcomes among children and youth.

Planning and evaluating health promotion interventions

We design, implement and rigorously evaluate health promotion interventions focused on preventing obesity and disordered eating in children and youth. This includes assessing effectiveness, equity impacts, and opportunities for scaling evidence‑based approaches.

Building evidence for school-provided meals in Canada

We generate evidence to support the development and implementation of school meal programs across Canada. Through research and collaboration with parents, schools, and community partners, we contribute to the advancement of Canada’s School Food Nutrition Policy and the broader vision of universal, healthy school food programs.