Valerie Tarasuk, University of Toronto

Research

Read how they describe their research on their University of Toronto profile.

Public health nutrition policy Food security Public and population health Human nutrition and dietetics Environmental, developmental and social factors of youth health

Latest papers

The evidence is in: accountability needs to be injected into the policy-making process for household food insecurity reduction.
Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2025 · first author
Food-based interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review.
Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2025
The Relationship between Diet Costs and Dietary Adequacy: A Scoping Review of Measures and Methods with a Focus on Cost Estimation using Food Supply Data.
The Journal of nutrition · 2025 · senior author

All 77 publications

Latest funding

Reducing Food Insecurity through Canada's Poverty Reduction Strategy
CIHR · 2024 · Nominated PI
$438,008
Addressing household food insecurity in Canada: learning from the COVID-19 pandemic
CIHR · 2021 · Nominated PI
$493,425
Food insecurity in Canadian cities and the role of provincial poverty reduction policies
CIHR · 2019 · Co-investigator
$75,000

All 20 grants and awards

77 publications.

01

The evidence is in: accountability needs to be injected into the policy-making process for household food insecurity reduction.

Tarasuk V, McIntyre L

Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice2025First author

DOI: 10.24095/hpcdp.45.9.04 PMID: 40960733

02

Food-based interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review.

Idzerda L, Lazarescu C, Corrin T, Vallières E, Couture A, Khan S, McIntyre L, Tarasuk V, Jaramillo Garcia A

Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice2025

DOI: 10.24095/hpcdp.45.9.03 PMID: 40960732

03

The Relationship between Diet Costs and Dietary Adequacy: A Scoping Review of Measures and Methods with a Focus on Cost Estimation using Food Supply Data.

Luongo G, Mah CL, Cahill LE, Hajizadeh M, Kennedy LJ, Wong H, Yi Y, Tarasuk V

The Journal of nutrition2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.12.009 PMID: 39724962

04

Health outcomes following childhood or adolescent exposure to household food insecurity: a rapid systematic review

Clark EC, Reyce E, Neil-Sztramko SE, Tarasuk V

Public Health Nutrition20254 citationsSenior author

DOI: 10.1017/s1368980025101109

05

The association between household food insecurity and healthcare costs among Canadian children.

Clemens KK, Le B, Anderson KK, Comeau J, Tarasuk V, Shariff SZ

Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique2024

DOI: 10.17269/s41997-023-00812-2 PMID: 37610612

06

Public policy interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review.

Idzerda L, Corrin T, Lazarescu C, Couture A, Vallières E, Khan S, Tarasuk V, McIntyre L, Jaramillo Garcia A

Public health nutrition2024

DOI: 10.1017/s1368980024000120 PMID: 38224084

07

Household food insecurity is negatively associated with achievement of prenatal intentions to feed only breast milk in the first six months postpartum.

Francis J, Mildon A, Tarasuk V, Frank L

Frontiers in nutrition2024

DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1287347 PMID: 38356859

08

Cost of a Healthy Diet: A Population-Representative Comparison of 3 Diet Cost Methods in Canada.

Luongo G, Tarasuk V, Cahill LE, Hajizadeh M, Yi Y, Mah CL

The Journal of nutrition2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.09.002 PMID: 39270849

09

Prevalence of micronutrient inadequacy differs by severity of food insecurity among adults living in Canada in 2015.

Hutchinson JM, Tarasuk V

Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2023-0614 PMID: 38603809

10

The relationship between household food insecurity and overweight or obesity among children and adults in Canada: a population-based, propensity score weighting analysis.

Fafard St-Germain AA, Hutchinson J, Tarasuk V

Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2023-0302 PMID: 38224041

Reducing Food Insecurity through Canada's Poverty Reduction Strategy

Nominated PICIHR2024Project Grant

Principal investigators: Tarasuk, Valerie S; Heisz, Andrew

Keywords: Food Insecurity; Poverty Reduction

$438,008

Addressing household food insecurity in Canada: learning from the COVID-19 pandemic

Nominated PICIHR2021Project Grant

Principal investigators: Tarasuk, Valerie S; Heisz, Andrew

Keywords: Covid-19 Pandemic; Food Insecurity; Labour Market Activity; Poverty Reduction

$493,425

Food insecurity in Canadian cities and the role of provincial poverty reduction policies

Co-investigatorCIHR2019Operating Grant: Data Analysis - Healthy Cities Intervention Research

Principal investigators: Notten, Geranda

Keywords: Canadian Cities; Food Insecurity; Policy; Poverty; Poverty Reduction; Provincial Policies

$75,000

Investigating food insecurity, poverty, and adolescent mental and physical health in high- and low-income countries

Co-investigatorCIHR2019Project Grant

Principal investigators: Elgar, Frank J

Keywords: Adolescents; Deprivation; Food Insecurity; Global Health; Inequality; Malnutrition; Mental Health; Poverty

$447,526

Investigating food insecurity, poverty, and adolescent mental and physical health in high- and low-income countries

Co-investigatorCIHR2018Project Grant

Principal investigators: Elgar, Frank J

Keywords: Adolescents; Food Insecurity; Global Health; Inequality; Malnutrition; Mental Health; Poverty

$100,000

Investigating the cost and correlates of a healthy diet in Canada

Co-investigatorCIHR2018Project Grant

Principal investigators: Mah, Catherine L

Keywords: Atlantic Canada; Diet Costs; Dietary Adequacy; Dietary Intake; Population Nutrition Policy

$76,500

The nutrition implications of discretionarily fortified beverages

Nominated PICIHR2016Operating Grant: CCHS - Nutrition Analysis

Principal investigators: Tarasuk, Valerie S

Keywords: Beverages; Discretionary Fortification; Micronutrients; Public Health Nutrition

$99,533

Maternal and infant health in association with household food insecurity

Nominated PICIHR2016Project Grant

Principal investigators: Tarasuk, Valerie S; Urquia, Marcelo L

Keywords: Household Food Insecurity; Infant Health; Maternal Health

$504,900

The nutrition implications of household food insecurity

Nominated PICIHR2016Operating Grant: CCHS - Nutrition Analysis

Principal investigators: Tarasuk, Valerie S

Keywords: Anthropometry; Dietary Intake; Food Insecurity; Nutrient Adequacy; Nutrition

$98,719

Food insecurity among Canadian children: implications for nutritional health

Nominated PICIHR2016Operating Grant: Analyses of Existing Cohorts & Databases - IHDCYH

Principal investigators: Tarasuk, Valerie S

Keywords: Anthropometry; Child Health; Household Food Insecurity; Nutritional Status; Public Health

$72,500

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Department of Nutritional Sciences
Community Health Sciences
Social & Behavioural Health Sciences Division
Community Health and Epidemiology
Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact
Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research
Nutritional Sciences
Other

Co-authors at University of Toronto, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Lynn Mcintyre

Community Health Sciences

5 shared papers, latest 2025

Blake Poland

Social & Behavioural Health Sciences Division

3 shared papers, latest 2014

Mohammad Hajizadeh

Community Health and Epidemiology

2 shared papers, latest 2025

Sarah Neil-Sztramko

Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact

2 shared papers, latest 2025

Heather Keller

Kinesiology and Health Sciences

1 shared papers, latest 2023

Cindy-Lee Dennis

Nutritional Sciences

1 shared papers, latest 2023

Claire de Oliveira

Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation

1 shared papers, latest 2018

Benedikt Fischer

Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research

1 shared papers, latest 2021

Maureen Dobbins

Nursing

1 shared papers, latest 2022

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their CIHR grant from 2024

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Public health nutrition policy Dear Professor Tarasuk, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "The evidence is in: accountability needs to be injected into the policy-making process for household food insecurity reduction." (2025), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your CIHR-funded project "Reducing Food Insecurity through Canada's Poverty Reduction Strategy" (2024), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]

Valerie Tarasuk

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

The evidence is in: accountability needs to be injected into the policy-making process for household food insecurity reduction.

Food-based interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review.

The Relationship between Diet Costs and Dietary Adequacy: A Scoping Review of Measures and Methods with a Focus on Cost Estimation using Food Supply Data.

Health outcomes following childhood or adolescent exposure to household food insecurity: a rapid systematic review

The association between household food insecurity and healthcare costs among Canadian children.

Public policy interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review.

Household food insecurity is negatively associated with achievement of prenatal intentions to feed only breast milk in the first six months postpartum.

Cost of a Healthy Diet: A Population-Representative Comparison of 3 Diet Cost Methods in Canada.

Prevalence of micronutrient inadequacy differs by severity of food insecurity among adults living in Canada in 2015.

The relationship between household food insecurity and overweight or obesity among children and adults in Canada: a population-based, propensity score weighting analysis.

Reducing Food Insecurity through Canada's Poverty Reduction Strategy

Addressing household food insecurity in Canada: learning from the COVID-19 pandemic

Food insecurity in Canadian cities and the role of provincial poverty reduction policies

Investigating food insecurity, poverty, and adolescent mental and physical health in high- and low-income countries

Investigating food insecurity, poverty, and adolescent mental and physical health in high- and low-income countries

Investigating the cost and correlates of a healthy diet in Canada

The nutrition implications of discretionarily fortified beverages

Maternal and infant health in association with household food insecurity

The nutrition implications of household food insecurity

Food insecurity among Canadian children: implications for nutritional health

Frequent collaborators

Lynn Mcintyre

Blake Poland

Mohammad Hajizadeh

Sarah Neil-Sztramko

Leah Gramlich

Paul Kurdyak

Lesley Frank

Heather Keller

Cindy-Lee Dennis

Claire de Oliveira

Benedikt Fischer

Maureen Dobbins