by Jiani Xie

Graphic design by Raymond Zhang

Many people grow up hearing that weight gain is a matter of personal control. The message is hidden in the health advice we receive: you are what you eat, and you control how much you move. However, weight and obesity is not only shaped by personal lifestyle choices, but also by environments, some of which may be obesogenic. Obesogenic environments are living conditions that increase the likelihood of weight gain and sedentary behaviours,¹ with some factors including the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods, safe infrastructure for physical activity, and walkable-city design.² While Obesogenic environments negatively affect all populations, some groups bear a disproportionate burden; for example, Indigenous populations and those of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to live in obesogenic environments, highlighting important inequalities in obesity risk.²

In Canada, Indigenous people carry a disproportionate burden of obesity.³ In 2017, obesity prevalence was 42% in Métis populations, 41% in First Nations communities, and 32% in Inuit communities, compared with 18% in Canadian adults overall.^3,4 The complications of obesity are significant, increasing the risk of developing physical and mental health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, and anxiety, which can stem from low self-esteem.⁵ Addressing obesity within Indigenous communities requires an understanding of the factors that contribute to obesogenic environments, such as food insecurity, limited access to infrastructure for physical activity, and intergenerational trauma.

Food Insecurity Experienced by Indigenous Communities

Food insecurity drives obesogenic environments within Indigenous communities. Results from the Canadian Community Health Survey revealed that the probability of food insecurity is 56% higher in off-reserve Indigenous households compared to non-Indigenous Canadian households.⁷  Food insecurity experienced by Indigenous communities is rooted in colonial policies that disrupt traditional food systems. For Indigenous people, traditional foods are important because they are healthier, locally sourced, and hold cultural significance.⁶ Before colonization, Indigenous people harvested traditional foods through hunting, gathering, and fishing⁷, which provided nutrient-dense, nourishing foods for their communities. Colonialism has led to the loss of governance of Indigenous lands,⁷ and practices like industrialization have degraded ecosystems and increased environmental contamination, which have reduced traditional food sources.⁷ The ongoing impacts of colonial practices are evident in the First Nations communities of Old Crow and Teslin, for example, who reported reduced consumption of traditional foods compared to 15 years ago.⁶

Food insecurity is also driven by the loss of knowledge of how to harvest and prepare traditional foods.⁶ Many Indigenous communities across Canada want to eat traditional foods, but do not know how to acquire them.⁶ For example, Inuit communities identify the loss of hunting and harvesting knowledge as a major barrier to eating healthy.⁶ This knowledge is transferred between generations through community and family teachings; however, this was disrupted by the residential school system, which forcibly removed children from their communities.⁶ These practices have shifted the diets of Indigenous people away from nutrient-dense traditional foods toward processed, calorie-dense foods, contributing to the obesogenic environment.

The reliance on market-based foods introduces another barrier to food security. For many Indigenous communities, market foods are both unaffordable and physically inaccessible.⁶ Alicia Elliott describes this in A Mind Spread Out on the Ground;¹² growing up on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in Ontario, her diet often consisted of calorie-dense, processed foods from gas stations. Fresh produce was scarce on the reserve, and when it was available, it was unaffordable. In Indigenous communities, limited access to healthy foods combined with dependence on highly processed options can lead to weight gain and obesity, contributing to the obesogenic environments in Indigenous communities.

Lack of Basic Infrastructures Limits Physical Movement

The loss of traditional land-based activity and limited infrastructure for physical activity have reduced opportunities for Indigenous people to live active and healthy lives. In Canada, 41 % of First Nations individuals live sedentary lifestyles.¹¹ Before colonization, Indigenous people lived active lifestyles, participating in land-based activities such as hunting, fishing and foraging.¹¹ Colonization dispossessed Indigenous people from their land and disrupted these ways of active living.¹¹ Today, many communities lack the basic infrastructures to support active lifestyles. Some common barriers include the lack of sidewalks, unsafe roads, and wildlife concerns.¹¹

For Indigenous communities, rising sedentary behaviour reflects the barriers in achieving active lifestyles. Without land access or infrastructure that encourages physical activity, health inequities that Indigenous people face are exacerbated. 

Intergenerational Trauma Influence Obesity Risk through Behavioural and Epigenetic Changes

In Canada, Indigenous communities experience chronic stress at higher rates than non-Indigenous populations.⁸ This is a result of enduring  trauma from colonization, land dispossession, and residential schools.¹⁰ Studies across Indigenous communities show that traumatic stress can be passed to future generations via epigenetics, where modifications to gene expression, rather than the actual genetic information itself, can be passed along to one’s children.¹⁰ The intergenerational transmission of trauma-related vulnerability can influence obesity risk through both behavioural and epigenetic changes.

Intergenerational trauma perpetuates parenting behaviours that increase adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as child abuse, child neglect, and exposure to household dysfunction.⁸ ACEs are associated with poor physical and psychiatric health outcomes; notably, children with mothers who attended residential school were more likely to experience ACEs.⁸ Current literature shows that one of the strongest predictors of parenting behaviour is how a mother was parented herself, and many mothers who survived residential schools experienced poor parenting and high levels of ACEs.⁸ These experiences can influence how they parent, increasing their children’s exposure to ACEs. Over time, this cycle of chronic stress can increase the risk of obesity.

Moving Forward Towards a Healthy Environment for All 

Your health is shaped by where you live. For Indigenous communities, colonialism has created obesogenic environments that promote poor health outcomes. Reclaiming the Indigenous way of life is an important step to restore the land that Indigenous people live on. A health program that centers the indigenous way of life should include (1) education on how to gather, prep and use traditional foods, (2) include traditional physical activities that are connected to the land, such as hunting, foraging or traditional games, and (3) integration of traditional knowledge in community-based program on traditional foods and physical activities. We are all deserving of an environment that supports the health of its people.

References

1. University of Nevada. What is obesogenic environment? [cited 2026 Feb 12]. Available from: https://extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=2810
2. The Lancet Public Health. Time to tackle obesogenic environments. Lancet Public Health. 2025; 10(3): e165. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00049-0
3. Kolahdooz F., Sadeghirad B., Corriveau A., et al. Prevalence of overweight and obesity among indigenous populations in Canada: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 2017;57(7):1316–1327. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2014.913003
4. Statistics Canada. Overweight and obese adults (self-reported), 2013. [cited 2026 Feb 12]. Available from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-625-x/2014001/article/14021-eng.htm
5. Ansari S, Haboubi H, Haboubi N, et al. Adult obesity complications: challenges and clinical impact. Ther Adv Endocrinol Metab. 2020; 11: 2042018820934955. doi: 10.1177/2042018820934955\
6. Shafiee M, Keshavarz P, Lane G, et al. Food security status of Indigenous peoples in Canada according to the 4 pillars of food security: a scoping review. Adv Nutr. 2022; 13: 2537-2558. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmac081
7. Batal M, Chan HM, Fediuk K, et al. First Nations households living on-reserve experience food insecurity: prevalence and predictors among ninety-two First Nations communities across Canada. Can J Public Health. 2021; 112: 52–63. doi: 10.17269/s41997-021-00491-x
8. Moon-Riley KC. The biological impacts of residential schooling on the development of intergenerational trauma among indigenous people. The University of Lethbridge. [cited 2026 Feb 12]. Available from: https://opus.uleth.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/8c156d47-9259-485e-ae24-320f27da3373/content
9. Vadiveloo M, Mattei J. Perceived weight discrimination and 10-year risk of allostatic load among US adults. Ann Behav Med. 2017; 51(1): 94–104. doi: 10.1007/s12160-016-9831-7
10. Schafte K, Bruna S. The influence of intergenerational trauma on epigenetics and obesity in Indigenous populations: a scoping review. Epigenetics. 2023; 18(1): 2260218. doi: 10.1080/15592294.2023.2260218.
11. Pelletier CA, Smith-Forrester J, Klassen-Ross T. A systematic review of physical activity interventions to improve physical fitness and health outcomes among Indigenous adults living in Canada. Prev Med Rep. 2017;8:242-249. doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2017.11.002.
12. Elliott A. A mind spread out on the ground. Toronto: Doubleday Canada; 2019.