NutriQuébec: a Web-based Prospective Cohort Study to Monitor the Population's Eating Habits in the Province of Québec.

The epidemic of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes is attributable in large part to unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity. In the Fall of 2016, the Québec Government launched its first-ever Government Health Prevention Policy (PGPS) to act on a set of factors to improve the health status and quality of life of the population of Quebec and to reduce social inequalities in health. NutriQuébec is a web-based prospective cohort study whose primary aim is to quantify the impact of the implementation of the PGPS on the Québec population's eating habits over the years. NutriQuébec will recruit over the next 3 years 20,000 adults living in the Province of Québec in Canada through a vast multimedia campaign designed to reach different segments of the population, including subgroups with a low socioeconomic status. Participants will be invited to complete on a web-based platform nine core questionnaires on a yearly basis. Questionnaires will assess several dimensions related to lifestyle, including eating habits and physical activity habits, as well as a large number of personal characteristics and global health status. The time course of the changes in eating habits will be analyzed in conjecture with the implementation of the PGPS to quantify its impact at a population level. Data will be analyzed while accounting for sociodemographic weight of participants, to achieve representativeness of the adult Québec population. NutriQuébec will provide essential data for the long-term evaluation of eating habits after Québec's PGPS is launched.