A major study investigating the pattern of obesity in 200 countries over a 45 year period, has revealed that New Zealand is not doing as well as comparable high income countries.
The study was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature by the international Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) group, which includes several EDOR members: Professor Jim Mann, Professor Rachael McLean, Associate Professor Andrew Reynolds and EDOR advisory board member Professor Boyd Swinburn, who was asked to write an accompanying News and Views article.
The global trend data over several decades indicate that Aotearoa New Zealand, like many developed countries, is experiencing a slowing of new cases of obesity. This is especially obvious in children and adolescents. However New Zealand still has a high prevalence of obesity compared to other high income countries due to the large number of existing cases in the community.
The high prevalence of obesity reduces the number of healthy, disease-free life years for many New Zealanders, and increases health costs due to the relationship between obesity and heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
EDOR Co-Director Associate Professor Andrew Reynolds contributed New Zealand data for this large scale study, which concluded that effective policies have helped control the rise of obesity in developed economies.
" The prevalence of obesity in Aotearoa New Zealand is a structural problem, not an individual one, and remedying this requires up-to-date and fit-for-purpose government policies and guidance, and a well-funded healthcare system," says Reynolds.
Access the Nature paper
Obesity rise plateaus in developed nations and accelerates in developing nations, Nature, 13 May 2026.
Newsroom comment by Professor Boyd Swinburn:
The pandemic that governments aren’t doing anything about, Newsroom, 22 May, 2026