Fascinating Findings

  • This study examined the amount of avoidable food waste generated by families with young children and explored the economic, nutritional, and environmental impacts of wasted food. What We Did and Why We Did It We analyzed data from 94 families with young children (ages 2–8 years) living in Guelph, Ontario, who participated in a detailed…

  • This study examined whether different types of stress, including general stress, parenting distress, and household chaos, were associated with measures of body fat and weight among parents of young children. What We Did and Why We Did It We analyzed data from 110 parents (49 mothers and 61 fathers) from 70 families participating in the…

  • This study examined whether the quality of parents’ and children’s diets was associated with the amount and type of food waste produced by Canadian families with young children. What We Did and Why We Did It We analyzed data from 85 families with young children living in the Guelph-Wellington area of Ontario who participated in…

  • This study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic affected health behaviours, stress, financial concerns, and food security among Canadian families with young children during the early months of the pandemic. What We Did and Why We Did It We surveyed 254 families participating in the Guelph Family Health Study between April and May 2020. Parents completed…

  • This study investigated how genetic differences in taste receptor genes influence taste sensitivity and taste preferences in healthy young adults. What We Did and Why We Did It We conducted a pilot study with 49 healthy young adults who completed a series of taste tests to measure their ability to detect tastes, how strongly they…

  • This study examined how different food skills among Canadian parents were associated with diet quality and household food waste. What We Did and Why We Did It We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 130 Canadian parents of children aged 2–8 years living in Guelph-Wellington, Ontario. Parents completed surveys about their food skills, including food safety…

  • This study explored the factors that influence parents’ decisions to provide dairy and plant-based dairy alternatives (PBDA) to preschool-aged children, helping identify opportunities to support healthier food choices. What We Did and Why We Did It We conducted focus groups with 32 parents of preschool-aged children from the Guelph Family Health Study and the Family…

  • This study explored how Health Educators adapted a family-based motivational interviewing program from in-person home visits to remote delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic and identified practical strategies to improve virtual counselling. What We Did and Why We Did It We conducted a qualitative study with three Health Educators from the Guelph Family Health Study who…

  • This study examined whether family stress was associated with the inflammatory potential of parents’ and children’s diets and found that parents living in more chaotic or dysfunctional family environments had diets with higher inflammatory potential, while no direct associations were found among children. What We Did and Why We Did It We analyzed data from…

  • This study explored parents’ perceptions of the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide and found that while parents appreciated its visual appeal, focus on healthy eating behaviours, and reduced industry influence, they also identified challenges related to plant-based proteins, dairy recommendations, cultural representation, and applying the recommendations in everyday life. What We Did and Why We Did…