A Nutrient Depleted Food Supply: Where Natural Health Products Bridge-The-Gap
The fruits and vegetables we eat today are not the same as those our grandparents grew up with.
Modern industrial farming practices have dramatically altered our soil, and with it, our food. Through over-farming, monoculture crops, pesticide use, and synthetic fertilizers, the very soil our food grows in has been stripped of essential nutrients. And when nutrients disappear from the soil, they disappear from our food.
According to a 2024 review, the nutrient density of fruits, vegetables, and food crops has dropped significantly over the past 50 to 70 years1. The average mineral content of produce has declined by:
- Sodium: 29% to 49%
- Potassium: 16% to 19%
- Magnesium: 16% to 24%
- Calcium: 16% to 46%
- Iron: 24% to 27%
- Copper: 20% to 76%
- Zinc: 27% to 59%
When “Healthy Eating” Isn’t Enough
In an ideal world, a balanced diet would meet all of our nutritional needs. But what happens if even a “balanced” diet isn’t enough due to depleted nutrient content in food?
This isn’t just a matter of bland tasting, rock solid tomatoes… This is a nutritional crisis. Canadians are consuming foods that may appear healthy on the outside, while delivering fewer of the essential nutrients our bodies depend on.
This is a time when natural health products become truly essential. From vitamins and minerals to herbs, homeopathic remedies and probiotics, natural health products help fill in the gaps that our modern food supply leaves behind.
Health Canada’s Policies Are Putting Natural Health Products At Risk
Here’s the bigger issue: while food quality declines, chronic disease rates rise, and Canadians are becoming more reliant than ever on supplementation, Health Canada is introducing sweeping regulatory changes that will make natural health products more expensive and harder to access.
Health Canada’s Self-Care Framework And Cost Recovery Fees Threaten To:
- Significantly impact consumer choice and restrict access to health products and supplements.
- Place a considerable financial strain on natural health product businesses. This will lead to significant price hikes for consumers or even force many small to medium-sized companies out of business.
- Prevent truthful advertising by both manufacturers and natural health stores, resulting from increased Health Canada censorship.
- Cripple the natural health community with huge new fines. Prior to June 22, 2023, the maximum fine you faced for violating the laws on natural health products (such as selling a product with improper labelling) was $5,000. Now it is up to 5 million dollars per day!
Health Canada Should Be Making These Products More Accessible, Not Less
Instead of creating barriers, Health Canada should be doing everything possible to protect and promote access to natural health products, as they play a critical role in preventing illness, managing chronic conditions, and maintaining health in our increasingly toxic, nutrient-poor environment.
We must recognize that natural health products are part of the solution, and push back against Health Canada’s regulations that would strip away our ability to choose them.
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