Science Media Centre

With record inflation in New Zealand, growing unease about the price of milk and rising food costs globally, nutrition experts are increasingly concerned about the impact of food insecurity on the most vulnerable members of society. Food insecurity is a lack of access to safe, nutritious and affordable food and according to research from the [...]

Ellie Constantine writes in the Otago Daily Times about research which suggests that poor dietary choices have more to do with the affordability of healthy food than access or price. The research, from New Zealand and Australia, shows that poor families spend a far larger proportion of their income on food (about 30%), and consequently [...]

As if we don’t have enough stress in our lives, now there’s a new one – food stress. But what’s the cause and who is suffering from it? One of the key topics for discussion at a national conference being held in Dunedin next week (1-3 September) by Dietitians New Zealand will be food security. [...]

Wrangling over water issues Polluted rivers, dirty dairying, greening the MacKenzie Country, dams for hydro-power and water allocation — these are just some of the big water issues that have been in the headlines in recent months. Although freshwater is relatively abundant in New Zealand, uneven distribution of water resources and increasingly intensive use have [...]

A new report is published this month by the Obesity Action Coalition on Food Security for Pacific Peoples in New Zealand. Two national nutrition surveys conducted in New Zealand (in 1997 and 2002) provide clear evidence that up to 50% of New Zealand’s Pacific adults and children have a burden due to food security issues, [...]