HEALthy Eating and Supportive Environments (HEAL) Study

The HEAL study aims to examine:

1. How dietary intake is linked with aspects of the food environment, like whether healthy foods are accessible within communities, provinces, and across Canada.
2. Whether links between dietary intake and features of food environments are associated with other factors like walkability of neighbourhoods and physical activity.

The detailed information on diet and physical activity can be used in the future to investigate associations with health outcomes, including chronic diseases like cancer.

Diet and physical activity are cornerstones of health. The HEAL study will consider environmental characteristics, such as the types of food outlets close to you and how walkable your neighbourhood is, which can affect your eating and physical activities. Help us to collect data to better understand how environments can support healthy eating and physical activity in Canada.

You will complete several online surveys over a year, covering your diet, physical activity, health, and environmental factors. Surveys are distributed and completed based on specific timelines for each regional cohort. 

Data collection is expected to take place from 2025 to 2027, and initial data analysis will occur by 2028.

What you eat and drink and your activities can change daily. By asking you to report what you eat and drink and your activities at different times, we can capture a comprehensive picture of what you eat and the activities you engage in. There are also some things that we eat and activities that we do infrequently or seasonally, such as having barbecues in the summer or skiing in the winter. By asking you to report on your diet and physical activities in different ways, we capture various types of information and can get a more complete picture.

The data will be used to assess aspects of the food environment that impact dietary intake, like stores selling healthy foods in your community, and how these aspects differ across Canada. The data will also be used to study how dietary intake and food environments, together, are influenced by other factors like the walkability of your neighbourhood, your physical activity, and other individual factors (e.g., employment). In the future, this data will help us understand the relationships between diet and physical activity and health outcomes, including chronic diseases like cancer.

We know the ASA24 dietary recall can feel long. That’s because it’s designed to give a very detailed picture of everything you ate and drank the prior day. To do this accurately, the system needs to ask follow-up questions about portion sizes, how foods were prepared, and what ingredients were included. For example, a sandwich can be made in many ways – with different breads, fillings, and condiments – and each version is different from a nutrition perspective. The extra questions help make sure we get it right.​

Similarly, each person’s activity throughout the day is different, and the ACT24 recall is designed to give a full picture of how you spent your day from when you woke up to when you went to bed. Even things like walking the dog, watching TV, or doing chores are important.​

We know your time is valuable, and we really appreciate you sticking with the recalls. Your responses help improve research on health and wellbeing. Thank you!

The study’s results will be shared by the regional cohorts and CanPath through their websites, newsletters, publications, presentations, and social media. At the end of the study, participants will receive a report summarizing the diet and physical activity information they provided.

Yes, of course! Please connect with your regional cohort to receive a copy.

Participating in this study is completely voluntary. Your participation in your regional cohort will not be affected based on whether you participate in the HEAL study. If, for any reason, you no longer wish to participate in the study, you may end your participation at any time. You can do this by notifying your regional cohort. You will remain a valued participant in your regional cohort going forward.

Like all data we collect from you, these data will be held by your regional cohort; CanPath will also have a de-identified copy. It doesn’t contain your personal information, such as your name, date of birth and address. Researchers who wish to access the data will apply through the standard processes at your regional cohort and CanPath. Only approved investigators will have access to the data.

CanPath and its regional cohorts have built a solid data governance, protection, and security foundation. We have stringent application review processes and are committed to protecting participant data. The data will be hosted securely at your regional cohort, and CanPath will also hold a de-identified copy at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. In the future, these data will be securely hosted in CanPath’s trusted, cloud-based research environment (in development).