Melissa Anne Fernandez- PhD, RD
- Assistant Professor at University of Ottawa
Melissa Anne Fernandez
- PhD, RD
- Assistant Professor at University of Ottawa
About
29
Publications
15,720
Reads
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795
Citations
Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
Additional affiliations
February 2019 - January 2022
Education
May 2014 - January 2019
Université Laval
Field of study
- Nutrition
Publications
Publications (29)
This review will explore the observational and mechanistic evidence supporting the hypothesis that fermented milk consumption has beneficial effects on metabolism. Live cultures in fermented dairy are thought to contribute to gut microbial balance, which is likely an instrumental mechanism that protects the host against gut dysbiosis and systemic i...
This study aimed to understand contexts for buying food online with food delivery apps, meal kits, and online grocers in Canada. A total of 34 participants (24% identified as men) between the ages of 16 and 60 were interviewed over the phone. The participants were recruited through personal and professional networks, electronic word of mouth, and p...
Food accessibility was considerably impacted by restrictions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, leading to growth in the online food retail sector, which offered contact‐free delivery. This systematic review aimed to assess the change in use of online food retail platforms during COVID‐19. The secondary aim was to identify die...
To improve health outcomes, home cooking has been suggested as a solution to reduce intakes of processed foods. However, little is known about how cooking skills or cooking with processed foods influence health. This cross-sectional study examined associations between diet and health outcomes with cooking skills and cooking with processed foods. Th...
Background
Nutrition influencers can reach large segments of the public, regardless of formal training or credentials. Though social media is a popular source of nutrition information, it may not be credible. Furthermore, the perceived credibility of nutrition information may be enhanced through social validation (i.e., popularity of the public fig...
For over two decades, digital food retail services have been emerging alongside advances in mobile technology and improved access to wi-fi. Digitalization has driven changes within the food environment, complicating an already complex system that influences food-related behaviors and eating practices. Digital food retail services support an infrast...
The revised version of Canada’s Food Guide, released in January 2019, issued new guidance by combining meat and alternatives with milk and alternatives into a single group called “protein foods” and emphasized selecting plant-based foods from this category more often. Though the changes represent a simple depiction of a healthy plate, the new Food...
Meal planning is cited in the latest version of Canada’s Dietary Guidelines as one of four important food skills that help individuals choose, purchase and prepare healthy snacks and foods on a regular basis for themselves and members of their household. While meal planning is often mentioned as a strategy to overcome the main barrier to healthy ea...
Based on epidemiological evidence, dairy products appear to play a protective role against type 2 diabetes (T2D). Experimental evidence suggests several mechanisms could be involved in glucose regulation and T2D prevention. In this chapter, we focus on the role of dairy protein as an important modulator of insulin-dependent and independent glucoreg...
Purpose of review:
This review will present the latest evidence on the impacts of sugar taxes on obesity with a focus on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB).
Recent findings:
Evidence of direct impacts of SSB taxation policies on obesity prevalence continues to be limited. Natural experiments involving SSB taxation policies implemented in Mexico and...
This study aimed to measure the influence of the Chefs in Action program (3 cooking workshops) on cooking skills, nutrition knowledge, and attitudes towards healthy eating in children attending summer day camps and compare it with a single cooking workshop. Groups of children (8-12 years) were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 25) or...
Objective
To evaluate awareness of the Eat Well Campaign (EWC) among parents and assess perceptions about its effectiveness.
Design
Post-campaign evaluation study with a cross-section of parents recruited through random digit dialling. Participants completed an online survey about EWC awareness, its perceived effectiveness among parents and their...
Social media is an accessible source of health and nutrition information. Instagram, an internationally known social media platform with an average of more than 1 billion monthly active users, allows its users to create and share content. However, the credibility of the nutrition content created by users with unknown qualifications may be questiona...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore associations between different food literacy dimensions and diet quality among a sample of Canadian parents and examine differences in the prevalence of food literacy items between mothers and fathers.
Design/methodology/approach
Parents responsible for food preparation ( n =767) completed an online...
Abstract
Background
There has been an increasing interest in urban agriculture (UA) practice and research in recent years. Scholars have already reported numerous beneficial and potential adverse impacts of UA on health-related outcomes. This scoping review aims to explore these impacts and identify knowledge gaps for future UA studies.
Methods
A...
Purpose: To explore the associations between full-time employment status, food skills, and diet quality of Canadian parents.
Methods: A sample of Canadian parents (n = 767) were invited to complete a web-based survey that included sociodemographic variables, questions about food skills, and a validated food frequency questionnaire. Results were ana...
Background: Since the 1990s, urban agriculture (UA) has contributed to improving food security in low- and middle- income countries. Now, it is implemented as a multifunctional intervention that can influence various determinants of health (eg, food security, social relationships). Studies of interest stem from several research disciplines, use a w...
Yogurt is a nutrient-rich food that is included in food-based dietary guidelines across the world. Yogurt can provide a significant amount of key nutrients to the diets of children and adolescents, particularly protein, calcium, vitamin B12, and phosphorus. Yogurt consumption in children is also likely associated with healthy lifestyle and dietary...
Résumé
Le nombre de travaux de recherche sur le yaourt et la santé a augmenté de manière exponentielle durant la dernière décennie. Un intérêt particulier a été porté sur le rôle de ce produit laitier fermenté dans la prévention des maladies chroniques liées à des habitudes de vie peu favorables pour la santé, et ce principalement dans des études d...
Associations between yogurt intake and risk of diet-related cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) have been the subject of recent research in epidemiologic nutrition. A healthy dietary pattern has been identified as a pillar for the prevention of weight gain and CMDs. Epidemiologic studies suggest that yogurt consumption is linked to healthy dietary patt...
Objective
To identify facilitators and barriers that Health Canada’s (HC) cross-sector partners experienced while implementing the Eat Well Campaign: Food Skills (EWC; 2013–2014) and describe how these experiences might differ according to distinct partner types.
Design
A qualitative study using hour-long semi-structured telephone interviews condu...
Features
Provides the latest scientific evidence regarding yogurt and includes chapter-by-chapter summaries on yogurt's role in nutrition and health
Reviews dietary guidelines, roles of yogurt bacteria, and yogurt consumption in various populations
Focuses on the role of yogurt in chronic diseases prevention
Identifies research areas where further...
Fruit and yogurt have been identified individually as indicators of healthy dietary patterns. Fruits are relatively low in energy density and are an excellent source of antioxidants and prebiotic fibers and polyphenols, which can promote digestive health. Yogurt, on the other hand, is a nutrient-dense food that is a good source of dairy protein, ca...
Yogurt consumption has been associated with healthy dietary patterns and lifestyles, better diet quality and healthier metabolic profiles. Studies have shown that frequent yogurt consumers do not only have higher nutrient intakes, but also an improved diet quality, which includes higher consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and dairy...
Yogurt, a milk-based product, is a particularly healthy food, offering high nutritional value with concentrated amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats to consumers. In addition to nutrient density, it provides high percentages of daily recommended values of essential nutrients such as calcium and vitamin B12. The added value of yogurt over mil...
Background
The Eat Well Campaign (EWC) was a social marketing campaign developed by Health Canada and disseminated to the public with the help of cross-sector partners. The purpose of this study was to describe factors that influenced cross-sector partners’ decision to adopt the EWC. Methods
Thematic content analysis, based primarily on an a priori...
To examine overweight and obesity (OWOB), changes in prevalence and potential risk factors in Barbadian children.
A cross-section of students were weighed and measured. The WHO BMI-for-age growth references (BAZ), the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth percentiles were used to dete...
