Science Media Centre

As the United Nations High Level Meeting on Noncommunicable diseases (NDCs) concludes, some general resolutions have been agreed to – but public health researchers are deploring a lack of action and accountability from Member States. The meeting was held in New York on the 19th and 20th of September, bringing together UN Member States to [...]

New Zealand’s obesity problem is getting worse and researchers are becoming more vocal about the need for action to avoid a looming health crisis. The latest announcement comes in the form of a video produced by the University of Otago (embedded below). The video explores how to change the current “obesogenic” environment – which provides [...]

Health professionals have called on the government to halt New Zealand’s growing obesity problem, saying it will cost the healthcare system millions if not addressed urgently. In a letter published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, several nutrition and public health experts* concisely laid out the case for urgency in acting against New Zealand’s rising [...]

New research has revealed New Zealand has one of the highest rates of diabetes among developed countries, drawing attention to the causes and prevention of the disease. The study, published in the Lancet, examined 2008 data on rates of diabetes globally and found that among wealthy countries New Zealand ranked in the top five in [...]

A UK study has found that, while vitamin D is essential for good bone health, there is no evidence for for claims of some of its other benefits, including combating heart disease and cancer. Vitamin D is made by the body when skin is exposed to UV, and can also be found in some forms [...]

SMC network expands to Canada Monday sees the launch of the Canadian Science Media Centre, representing the SMC network’s first beachhead in North America. Former Discovery Channel TV producer Penny Park will run the centre which will be nationally focused and feature content in both English and French and operate 24 hours a day, 7 [...]

SMC UK: Expert reaction to European Medicines Agency recommendation to suspend the diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone) Our colleagues at the Science Media Centre in London gathered comment on the move overnight by the European Medicines Agency to suspend the diabetes drug Avandia. Comment from New Zealand scientists will be added here as they come in. [...]

The 60 Minutes programme last Wednesday and again last night featured a story about former All Black Captain Taine Randell, who returned to his home town of Flaxmere in Hawkes Bay to promote a range of community based initiatives to help improve the health and wellbeing of the local population. One initiative was to promote [...]

A local scientist is convinced that he’s on the path to a treatment for Type II diabetes – a hormone produced in the duodenum which causes insulin resistance. He also hypothesises that obesity is a symptom, rather than a cause, of diabetes. An excerpt: (read in full here) “Overseas researchers have already discovered a hormone [...]

Tim Cronshaw writes in Business Day about recent US research suggesting that processed meat can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and the reaction from the New Zealand Meat Processors Association, which says the research could mislead kiwis. Kiwis eat less processed meat than those who took part in the study, meaning [...]