The Informed Dining program helps you understand calories and sodium content. Photo: uvic.ca.
Dr. Paul Martiquet
Everyone loves to eat out. But don’t you wish you knew what was in restaurant food? That is where BC’s Informed Dining program steps in to help.
Anyone who enjoys eating out knows how convenient and pleasurable the experience can be. Someone cooks the food you want; someone else brings it to your table; and best of all, there’s someone to do all the cleanup when you are done. Could it get any better?
How about if you could learn what is in the food you want to order? At the grocery store, it’s easy to check out a label for ingredients, calories and sodium content, but what can you do at a restaurant?
What is Informed Dining?
Informed Dining is a voluntary nutrition information program for restaurants in Canada with at least one outlet located in British Columbia. Participating restaurants display the Informed Dining logo which commits them to provide calorie and nutrient information for all standard menu items upon request. The information must highlight calories and sodium content.
Informed Dining – What nutritional information is available?
Why calories and sodium? It turns out that these are the two areas where we can benefit the most when striving to improve our health. Calories because getting too many makes achieving a healthy body weight difficult and excess weight increases the risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and various cancers.
As for sodium, we do need it in our diet, but most of us get too much. Average consumption of sodium is 3400 milligrams per day — more than double the amount we need. And most of that sodium comes from processed foods, including those from restaurants and food service establishments. Eating too much sodium can cause high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and kidney disease.
Informed Dining – Who created the program?
The Informed Dining Program was created by the BC Ministry of Health in partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (BC & Yukon). It is endorsed by the Canadian and Restaurant Food services Association, the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Response to the program has been very good and is proving popular with consumers. As of June 2013, 21 restaurants with 341 outlets were participating in the Informed Dining program across the province. This includes 16 independent operators, one BC chain, and three national chains. Among those are White Spot, A&W, Boston Pizza and Subway plus many independent restaurants and small businesses.
The program was evaluated using data collected over 18 months ending June 2013 and the findings are encouraging. First, the vast majority of participating restaurants are meeting all program standards. Second, consumers want nutrition information in restaurants and for it to be visible and accessible at the point of ordering. Unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness of the Informed Dining program amongst consumers.
Informed Dining - Where can I learn more?
The primary goal of the Informed Dining Program is to improve the health of British Columbians by helping people make informed food choices when dining out. To learn more about Informed Dining, both consumers and restaurant operators can visit the program website at www.informeddining.ca.
Dr. Paul Martiquet is the Medical Health Officer for Rural Vancouver Coastal Health including Powell River, the Sunshine Coast, Sea-to-Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.
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