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Health Canada and the World Health Organization recognize iron as a nutrient of public health concern. Two new studies* from the University of Toronto indicate that iron deficiency is a concern for over half of pregnancies, and that nearly 30% of Canadian women aged 19 to 50 years do not get enough iron from their diet. These are among the eye-opening key messages delivered by Iron Matters, a new program from Canada Beef to emphasize the importance of iron in the diet for optimum human health. The program partners with healthcare professionals to deliver messaging about the high prevalence of iron deficiency and awareness of nutrition-based resources to support client education about iron, courtesy of ThinkBeef.ca, the Canada Beef Generic Consumer Marketing investment. Karine Rekunyk, a registered dietitian and Canada Beef director, health and nutrition, said in addition to emphasizing the importance of iron in general, program messaging highlights that iron is critical to women of childbearing age, for healthy pregnancies and to ensure the proper growth and development of infants and children. “Beef is one of the top sources of well-absorbed iron and many Canadians, especially women and children, would benefit from eating more beef,” she said. Iron Matters runs from January to April 2022, and will roll out to 1,200 health care professionals, predominantly doctors and nurse practitioners in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and New Brunswick. Resources to support the Iron Matters program, as well as educational resources on iron and cholesterol on ThinkBeef.ca, will be distributed to a database of 80,000+ physicians and ~1,500 nurse practitioners on-demand. This phase will be followed by one-on-one calls delivered by a specialized sales representative trained in program messaging. “Iron is a priority tactic for the Health & Nutrition area and this is one project, among several, that is focused on iron,” Rekunyk said. The Iron Matters campaign comes on the heels of a Baby at the Table consumer campaign that focuses on the importance of iron for growing babies. Canada Beef supported the Family Nutrition chapter in the Baby & Child Care Encyclopedia 2021/2022. The Thinkbeef.ca sponsored chapter on Family Nutrition cites the Health Canada recommendation that iron-containing sources of food like beef, chicken, fish, tofu, beans and eggs should be introduced first. *published in 2021 by the University of Toronto Back to main page KARINE REKUNYK Director, Health and Nutrition |
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