Many professionals, including physicians, advocate for programs aimed at reducing poverty and food insecurity. Clearly, we haven't been effective advocates for either food and health promotion security nor for access to health care when people are sick. In Canada it seems that social capital remains the currency for access to timely health care. People who are well-spoken, well connected and wealthy seem to have better access to excellent care. Consequently, attending to the social determinants of health becomes even more important. With regard to food insecurity, a recurring theme is that many people just don't know how to make best use of nutritious and inexpensive foods. Pulses, lentils, chickpeas, beans, for example, aren't widely used. Sometimes nutritious foods aren't available because people live in food deserts. However, many people with access just don't know how to use these inexpensive options. I applaud your efforts to reduce food insecurity and welcome your suggestions about how to be a more effective advocate. David Zitner ________________________________ From: Social Determinants of Health <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of PROOF Food Insecurity Policy Research <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2023 4:18 PM To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Subject: [SDOH] Fw: Food prescriptions – a short-sighted response to food insecurity CAUTION: The Sender of this email is not from within Dalhousie. Dear colleagues, We just published a new commentary in Healthy Debate on food prescription programs and food insecurity. It can be found at: https://healthydebate.ca/2023/05/topic/food-prescriptions-food-insecurity/ A snippet: "Ignoring the root of the problem? Health researchers in the U.K., where social prescribing was first popularized, have pointed to the inability for social prescriptions to address health inequities and warned against claims that they do. Doctors have also raised concerns that food prescriptions ignore the root of the problem and put an extra cost on already strained health-care systems. There are similar concerns in the U.S. around the “medicalization of poverty.” Focusing on initiatives that health-care providers can do with limited time and resources obscures the policy inaction they are trying to compensate for. Researchers in the U.S., where “food as medicine” first came to prominence as a movement in health care, have also highlighted its inability to address the structural determinants of food insecurity and have called for health-care systems to champion structural change. At a time when food banks in Canada are speaking out about governments’ abdication of their responsibility to ensure that people’s basic needs are met, calling for immediate policy reform and eschewing public funding that would further institutionalize them, health-care providers should not be introducing yet another charitable food-assistance initiative. Entrenching an ad-hoc, food-based response that intervenes at the point when food-insecure people need health-care services may hinder policy progress by giving the impression that this problem is being addressed." Best, Tim -- Tim Li, MSCom PROOF Research Program Coordinator Department of Nutritional Sciences Temerty Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto Toronto, ON M5S 1A8 https://proof.utoronto.ca/ @proofcanada<https://twitter.com/proofcanada> ________________________________ From: PROOF (Food Insecurity Policy Research) <[log in to unmask]> Sent: May 25, 2023 3:00 PM To: PROOF Food Insecurity Policy Research <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Food prescriptions – a short-sighted response to food insecurity Canada already has a long history of stopgap measures in food charity. Can we afford to entrench another in food prescriptions? View this email in your browser<https://mailchi.mp/47c1b720bb35/food-prescriptions-a-short-sighted-response-to-food-insecurity?e=95568a7c75> [Logo: PROOF, Food Insecurity Policy Research] <https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=c65c987414&e=95568a7c75> New Commentary: Food prescriptions – a short-sighted response to food insecurity [https://mcusercontent.com/f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a/images/a673a4b0-3919-5795-34d2-7ba22287cb97.png] <https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=6ddb61d501&e=95568a7c75> Living in a household struggling to afford food is toxic for people’s health. As the severity of food insecurity increases, so does the risk of a wide range of adverse health outcomes<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=9cff33f8c1&e=95568a7c75>, including premature death. The toll on physical and mental health manifests in greater need for health-care services. Food-prescription programs are one way that health-care providers are trying to mitigate the health-eroding hardships they witness. These programs provide limited amounts of healthy foods to patients, typically through collaborations with community organizations. The idea brings together two increasingly popular trends in health care: social prescribing and “food as medicine.” Social prescribing sees health-care providers connect patients with non-clinical community services and supports. “Food as medicine” is a resurgent interest in the role of food and nutrition in disease management and prevention. The emergence of food prescriptions in Canada has raised questions<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=14d49eb506&e=95568a7c75> about their place in our health-care system. These questions are especially important now. Our health-care systems are in crisis and record food price inflation threatens to worsen the already-high rates of food insecurity. Continue reading at Healthy Debate<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=6cec33f2a9&e=95568a7c75> Related posts: Reconsidering Food Prescription Programs in Relation to Household Food Insecurity<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=c53e78b692&e=95568a7c75> In this commentary,”, Dr. Valerie Tarasuk and Dr. Lynn McIntyre raise important questions about food prescription programs and their ability to provide lasting health benefits for food-insecure patients and their families and to meaningfully reduce health inequities. AHS review and recommendations on food insecurity screening<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=90577aeefc&e=95568a7c75> This extensive review of literature on food insecurity screening in healthcare settings by Alberta Health Services (AHS) asks the critical question, is screening for food insecurity an appropriate or effective action in Canadian healthcare settings? ICYMI: Food insecurity in 2022 In 2022, 6.9 million people in the ten provinces, including 1.8 million children, lived in a food-insecure household. This is a considerable increase from 2021 during a period of unprecedented inflation. We recently summarized the new data released by Statistics Canada in a series of graphs and maps. [https://mcusercontent.com/f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a/images/02627d96-2bbf-89e7-7653-2c64604bf352.png] <https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=94779fad2b&e=95568a7c75> Read now<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=82155806fd&e=95568a7c75> Recent updates Latest posts Food prescriptions – a short-sighted response to food insecurity<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=f2ed2d5ae1&e=95568a7c75> May 25, 2023 New data on household food insecurity in 2022<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=66b3dac7c2&e=95568a7c75> May 2, 2023 What the measures in the 2023 budgets mean for food insecurity.<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=12a23c06ef&e=95568a7c75> April 13, 2023 The 2023 Federal Budget has the right idea, but much more is needed to address food insecurity<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=00759f8ecb&e=95568a7c75> March 29, 2023 A more generous Canada Child Benefit for low-income families would reduce their probability of food insecurity<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=4f287eb3bb&e=95568a7c75> March 9, 2023 Latest publications Liu, R., Urquia, M. L., & Tarasuk, V. (2023). The prevalence and predictors of household food insecurity among adolescents in Canada<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=07b388e041&e=95568a7c75>. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 1-11. Men, F., & Tarasuk, V. (2023). Employment insurance may mitigate impact of unemployment on food security: Analysis on a propensity-score matched sample from the Canadian income survey<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=dc47e9b995&e=95568a7c75>. Preventive Medicine. Men, F., St-Germain, A. A. F., Ross, K., Remtulla, R., & Tarasuk, V. (2023). Effect of Canada Child Benefit on Food Insecurity: A Propensity Score− Matched Analysis<https://utoronto.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f0bc4ce703a1f3b145f5a0e0a&id=fff4074fd5&e=95568a7c75>. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 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