The high prevalence of nutrition-related chronic conditions in children and adolescents is an emerging public health problem. Research has shown that newcomers to Canada (<5yrs) are at a greater risk of experiencing health and nutrition issues compared to the Canadian-born. The literature shows newcomers have better health upon arrival than the Canadian-born. However, as their length of stay in the country increases, their health status declines to that of Canadians or even surpasses them. To my knowledge, there has not been a comprehensive study on health and nutrition issues in newcomer children to Canada. Very few studies distinguish refugees from immigrants, even though they are two very different populations. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the health and nutrition of newcomer refugee and immigrant children to Canada. Various health indices were examined. Questionnaires were administered to describe demographics, socio-economic status, physical and sedentary activity levels, and food security. Dietary assessments provided information on food group and nutrient intake and allowed us to develop scores based on Canadas Healthy Eating Index. Biomarkers of disease were also examined and included serum vitamin D, total cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure, and total body bone mineral content.
Immigrant and refugee children were eligible to participate if they were between the ages of 7-11 years and had been in Canada no more than five years (n=72). Descriptive analyses were conducted for all variables of interest.
The prevalence of food insecurity was much higher in newcomers in this study compared to immigrant children from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 2008. In this study, 66% of refugees and 39% of immigrants experienced some form of food insecurity whereas the CCHS 2008 found this value to be only 13%. Food security is directly related to income. The majority of participants in this study were classified in the lowest income category and 72% of refugee and 12% of immigrant children lived in a household where neither parent had a secondary level of education. Food insecurity has a negative impact on nutrient intake and overall health. Results from this study showed that immigrant and refugee newcomer children had a higher rate of overweight/obesity at approximately 29% compared to 26% in Canadian-born children. Participants also had lower mean scores based on Canadas Healthy Eating Index compared to their Canadian-born counterparts. Immigrants consumed a greater amount of sodium than refugees, however, still lower than Canadians. Low levels of dietary vitamin D and calcium in immigrants and refugees were consistent with a low consumption of milk and alternatives. Immigrants and refugees were also consuming lower amounts of fibre and folate (DFE) compared to Canadians. Other nutrients of concern for refugees included iron and zinc.
Total body bone mineral content of newcomer children was similar to the Canadian-born. Comparing with published data, Canadian-born children had higher serum vitamin D levels than newcomer immigrant and refugee children in this study, 72.5% of whom were vitamin D deficient or had inadequate levels. Blood cholesterol was high in 40% of participants. Blood glucose was high in 7% of participants. In this study, newcomer children, particularly refugee children, were at risk of experiencing negative health outcomes such as higher levels of food insecurity, high prevalence of intake inadequacy of key nutrients, overweight and obesity, and vitamin D deficiency and inadequacy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-08302011-005857 |
| Date | 22 September 2011 |
| Creators | Nisbet, Christine Nicole |
| Contributors | Vatanparast, Hassan, Henry, Carol, Muhajarine, Nazeem, Chilibeck, Phil, Garcea, Joe |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-08302011-005857/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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