The Canadian Cattlemen's Association

February 19, 2010 - New BIC nutrition podcasts focus on health benefits of Canadian beef

This March, the Beef Information Centre (BIC) launches five new podcasts as part of its Nutricast Radio series. Three of the podcasts are geared to consumers and focus on including nutrient-rich Canadian beef as part of a balanced diet. Two additional podcasts are geared to health professionals.

This innovative program was developed in collaboration with registered dietitians, leading scientists, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s Health Check program.

The new podcasts are composed of 10-15 minute radio style clips, found on the BIC consumer website that focus on nutrition issues facing Canadians today. In the podcasts, key experts provide current, evidence-based information on nutrition and beef’s contribution to a balanced diet.

In 2009, BIC released its first series of Nutricast Radio podcasts, geared toward health professionals. Since that launch last summer, there have been 450 downloads of the podcasts. The information presented allows health professionals to pass along positive beef nutrition information to their clients and patients.
According to Judy Nelson, BIC’s vice-chair and a cow-calf operator at Lundbreck, Alta., the new consumer-focused podcasts in particular will help increase positive attitudes towards beef.

“These podcasts help to support the Canadian beef brand while emphasizing the importance of including nutrient-rich foods, like beef, in the diet,” says Nelson. “With the consumer podcasts, we are hoping to see greater download rates as they will be available on multiple websites.” The podcasts will be launched to complement the Canadian beef consumer campaign that highlights the nutritional goodness of Canadian beef.

The consumer podcasts feature registered dietitian Helene Charlebois who discusses the importance of choosing nutrient-rich lean Canadian beef. The health professional podcasts focus on hot topics in the scientific community, including the health benefits of natural trans fat found in ruminant animals and the importance of including protein in a person’s diet throughout his or her lifespan. Both health professional podcasts highlight the healthfulness of beef and the importance of including beef in the diet.

“BIC’s Nutricast Radio ensures continuous positive, evidence-based and credible information on Canadian beef’s role in a healthy diet in an enticing way,” notes Nelson. “These innovative programs continue to reinforce the fact that BIC is a leader in beef nutrition communications.”

BIC’s collaboration with the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Health Check program on two of the consumer podcasts further enforces beef’s healthfulness and BIC’s credibility. The new podcasts complement an already impressive list of beef health and nutrition communications tools BIC offers to Canada’s health professionals, including the annual Nutrition Perspective newsletter, Nutricast online seminars, and the monthly HealthLink e-newsletter.

Anyone is able to listen to a podcast by visiting BIC’s website for health professionals and clicking on the podcast link. The three consumer podcasts will go live during the first week of March, while the two podcasts geared toward health professionals will go live in mid-March. All will be posted to BIC’s consumer and health professional websites. To listen to past podcasts, visit health.beefinfo.org/en/research/nutricast/radio.aspx, and visit often to check for the new podcasts in March.

BIC’s efforts to maximize demand for Canadian beef and optimize the value of Canadian beef products is funded in part by cattle producers through the National Beef Check-Off, and through beef industry market development funds provided by the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada.

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