Friday 25 September 2015 12:12pm
Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research (EDOR) Centre members joined researchers, public health and community professionals from around the country for the second Sugary Drink Free Symposium.
The "Sugary Drink Free Aotearoa by 2025" symposium was held at MIT, Manukau on 7 October, 2015. A range of distinguished speakers was followed by a panel discussion, including political and industry representatives, chaired by EDOR advisory board member Professor Boyd Swinburn.
Associate Professor Louise Signal, EDOR member and Director of the Health Promotion and Policy Research unit (HePPRU) at the University of Otago, Wellington, discussed the role that taxes can play in promoting healthy food and drink choices.
EDOR member Associate Professor Tony Merriman talked about the role of sugar-sweetened beverages in gout, a painful disease of the joints that is exacerbated by some types of sugar.
Dr Lisa Te Morenga, a member of the Department of Human Nutrition and EDOR, described research into more reliable measures of how much free sugar New Zealanders actually consume. This is crucial for the effective monitoring of strategies being undertaken to lower our sugar intake.
Currently intake of free sugars in New Zealand cannot be reliably estimated, as the NZ food composition database does not distinguish between total sugars (which includes naturally occurring sugars found in fruits, vegetables and milk products) and free sugars. In addition, we are dependent on self-report measures which are subject to substantial measurement error. Lisa described the research she is doing to address these limitations.
