Digesting Data: Tracing the Chromosomal Imprint of Scientific Evidence Through the Development and Use of Canadian Dietary Guidelines

Abstract

The Eating Well With Canada’s Food Guide (CFG), which represents Canada’s official dietary guidelines, is designed to address high rates of obesity and diet-related chronic disease in Canada. This article presents a qualitative study of the social and ideological actions that the CFG performs. The study draws on the concepts of antecedent genres and uptake from rhetorical genre studies, applying them in a multimodal analysis of the CFG and interviews with the CFG’s producers and registered dietitians (RDs) who work with vulnerable populations. Findings reveal that scientific representations play a profound role in the social and ideological actions that the CFG performs. The author demonstrates how representations of scientific evidence from nutrition science, as exemplified in the concept of the Food Guide Serving, are taken up by the CFG and, in turn, how these scientific representations influence RDs’ use of the CFG and dominate, rather than facilitate, discussions about healthy eating. The study suggests that the CFG, instead of being an enabling resource, is a limiting document: It limits who can make healthier food choices and how such choices can be made.