Health research initiative gets "Canada on the move"

VANCOUVER (January 26, 2004) - Dr. Diane Finegood, Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Diabetes (INMD) with the support of the CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA), today launched a national health research initiative that will gather valuable information about what motivates people to get active, while encouraging Canadians to clip on pedometers and count their daily steps.

Canada on the Move is a health research project designed to get Canadians to "donate their steps" to health research. Canadians both with and without pedometers are encouraged to join this national research effort by logging onto a website to submit information about their daily total number of steps and factors that influence their level of physical activity.

"Physical activity is key to combating the obesity epidemic among Canadians. Anecdotal evidence suggests that pedometers can be very helpful for some people, but we need to know who they work for and under what conditions," says Dr. Diane Finegood. "By engaging Canadians from coast-to-coast, researchers will be able to learn about how people use pedometers and what motivates them to increase their level of physical activity."

Researchers currently know that an active person walks about 10,000 steps a day. Through the participation of individual Canadians in Canada on the Move, experts and researchers will collect and analyze important data that will add to knowledge and may help efforts to increase activity and reduce obesity.

"My colleagues and I took part in the planning behind Canada on the Move because we were drawn to the potential for valuable data supporting our research," says Ron Plotnikoff, Associate Professor at the University of Alberta. "We believe this unique initiative may have benefits to the health of Canadians by motivating positive behavioural changes through a process we could monitor and assess."

Canada on the Move has already attracted a number of private and public sector partners wanting to help Canadians commit to a more active lifestyle. Kellogg Canada, for example, recently inserted step counters in 800,000 specially-marked boxes of Special K* and Special K* Red Berries cereals and is encouraging Canadians to log onto the web site. Sun Microsystems of Canada, in partnership with Blue Spark, contributed to the development of the web site and database. The University of Alberta has also launched their own U of A on the Move initiative and provided support to researchers at the university engaged in refinement and testing of the web site content.

"These partners have been essential to getting this project off the ground on a very short timeline, but they represent the "tip of the iceberg" of groups interested in participating in this unique multi-sector initiative," says Dr. Finegood. "We are keen to develop many more partnerships that will help us bring together the necessary research expertise, financial support, and services needed to expand Canada on the Move and encourage even more Canadians to get involved. The more people participate the more we can learn."

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's premier agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system.

The Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD) is one of 13 institutes that comprise the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). INMD's mission is to support research to enhance health in relation to diet, digestion, excretion and metabolism. Researchers in Canada receive funding through INMD to pursue a wide spectrum of research associated with obesity, its causes and treatments.

In 2001, CIHR and INMD announced a major strategic initiative entitled Excellence, Innovation and Advancement in the Study of Obesity and Healthy Body Weight that provides funds for research ranging from basic science to studies about the social impacts of obesity.

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Attachments:

Canada on the Move Partners Backgrounder

Obesity Research in Canada Backgrounder

Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes Backgrounder

For more information, please contact:

Janet Weichel
CIHR Communications
Tel: (613) 941-4563
Cellular: (613) 447-4794
jweichel@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Kevin Bartus
Blue Spark
Tel: (416) 971-6612 x107
kevin@bluespark.com

Lores Tomé
Kellogg Canada
Tel: (416) 675-5237
lores.tome@kellogg.com

Shirley Horvat
Sun Microsystems of Canada, Inc.
Tel: (905) 513.4856
shirley.horvat@sun.com

Sandra L. Halme
University of Alberta
Tel: (780)-492-0442
sandra.halme@ualberta.ca

For more information about Canada on the Move

For more information about CIHR, INMD and IMHA