Obesity has been in the headlines for decades in Aotearoa and hardly a statistic has moved.
New Zealand has the third highest rate of obesity in the OECD and the second highest childhood obesity rate.
Today’s episode of The Detail looks at new research that may be part of a solution – in pregnancy, early childhood and Pasifika communities.
Professor Wayne Cutfield, a paediatric endocrinologist from the University of Auckland, is part of a group that’s just published its findings on giving pregnant mothers supplements to combat obesity.
“Women were recruited prior to getting pregnant – half of them were put on a supplement with six extra ingredients, and the other group – the control group – were just on standard supplements that women get in pregnancy,” Cutfield says.
The supplements included vitamins (B2, B12, B6, D), probiotics, and myo-inositol (which helps with insulin resistance), along with standard pregnancy supplementation.
“What we found is that the mothers who took the supplement prior to getting pregnant and during pregnancy, we’ve looked now at their children and we’ve looked out to the age – at the moment – of two and we found that those who were supplemented, their children were less likely to be obese … and they were also gaining weight less rapidly.
“The obvious question is … which of the things did this? The answer is we don’t know, we’re trying to model and understand. It may require later testing.”
Cutfield also talks about how anti-smoking legislation may have had a positive effect on pre-school obesity rates.
Associate Professor Riz Firestone of Massey University’s Research Centre for Hauora and Health works with Pacific families and communities to reduce non-communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
Nearly 28 percent of Pasifika children are classified as obese, according to the latest New Zealand Health Survey. Two-thirds of Pasifika adults are obese.
Firestone has been working on a new research programme with families in Wellington, west Auckland and Tokoroa, where they created a food box along the lines of My Food Bag.
“They developed their own recipes, it was checked over by a nutritionist – so four meals is what they got out of that food box every week for about eight weeks. It was food they were familiar with – it had Pacific flavours.”
This food box only cost between $103 and $117 (for 6-8 people), and even left the families with leftovers.
Firestone’s finalising the report but preliminary results show the families have lost 2 percent of their body weight over eight weeks.
“From another study where we looked at working with families, they’d lost up to about six percent of their body weight over a six-month period, over a longer period of time.
“I can say it has short-term benefits that way.”
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