The Nuxalk Food and Nutrition Program for Health revisited

The original diet of the Nuxalk Nation incorporated a range of nutritious fish and seafood, game and various plant foods, including greens, berries and root vegetables. However, early research underlying the Nuxalk Food and Nutrition Program demonstrated a dramatic shift in diet during the twentieth century, with less use of traditional food and greater reliance on processed and less healthy food, combined with a more sedentary lifestyle. Documentation of the Nuxalk Nation’s food system underlined the imperative of using community resources and local cultural foods as the platform for health education and promotion to improve food use and nutrition status. The Nuxalk Food and Nutrition Program was conducted in the mid-1980s, with changes in food use and nutrition status determined through measurements taken before and after the interventions. This was the first programme of its kind in First Nations communities, and led to many similar initiatives in Canada. More than 350 activities were developed with input from community elders and leaders, and attracted thousands of individual participations from the population of about 500 on-reserve Nuxalk. Popular activities were feasts, food excursions and two widely distributed books on traditional food systems and recipes. Evaluation activities included interviews on food use and diet, and measurement of anthropometry and physiologic indicators of key micronutrients (vitamin as carotene and retinol, folate and iron), dental health, and process indicators of programme success and participation. Improved use of traditional food resources was shown, with increasing numbers of families using these foods, particularly fish, and increased amounts of food used per family. Dietary status improved with the increased use of fruit and vegetables and better intakes of vitamin A, folate and iron. Nutrition status regarding carotene, retinol and folate improved in all age and gender categories, and iron status improved among youth. Dental health, measured through examination of children’s tooth decay, improved dramatically. A follow-up consultation in 2006 examined long-term programme impacts, changes in traditional food availability due to environmental shifts, and concerns about increasing obesity and chronic disease within the Nuxalk Nation.