Science Media Centre

Children taking part in a new initiative called Project Energize show significant health benefits, with Energize children less overweight and obese, having smaller waists, and able to run faster than comparison groups, according to a new report published this week. The Energize programme, initiated in 2005, and funded by the Waikato District Health Board, aims to increase [...]

New Zealand scientists have helped establish a link between a mother’s diet while pregnant and the probability that her child will be obese. A team of scientists from New Zealand and the UK, including Sir Peter Gluckman of the Liggins Institute (NZ), examined epigentic modification (chemical changes in the DNA structure) in umbilical tissue from [...]

Researchers investigating effects of maternal diet on children’s health at the University of Auckland’s Liggins Institute are warning pregnant mums to be aware of how much fructose they consume. Fructose is a type of sugar that naturally occurs in fruit, vegetables and honey — but is increasingly added to a wide range of processed foods, [...]

From SkepticsNZ: Some of the links between diet and health outcomes in the 1970s were very tenuous. However these have been translated into ‘fact’ and public health policy in the belief that this was for the greater good. This talk explores some of the fallacies behind the ‘science’. Helen Petousis-Harris is a scientist in molecular [...]

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 [...]

Being obese increases the risk of dying from cancer amongst Asia-Pacific populations, finds new research involving over 10,000 New Zealanders. According to anti-obesity campaigners, cancer is the least well-known danger of being obese. An excerpt: (read in full here) “Overweight people, with a body mass index (BMI) of 25-30, had a 6 per cent higher [...]

Research published in The Lancet Oncology today shows a strong causal link between obesity in Asia-Pacific people, and an increased risk of dying from cancer. While an increased risk of death from cancer has been linked with obesity in Western populations, little research until now has looked at any effects in Asia-Pacific populations. Now, a [...]

A hard-hitting report from the UK health watchdog group National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) calls on government and the food industry to cut salt and fat from processed foods — a move it says would save tens of thousands of lives a year. The report recommends a public health approach to combat [...]

It is well established that obesity can negatively affect a person’s quality of life, health and life expectancy. New research, however, suggests that it is also bad for a person’s sexual health. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at the sexual behaviour of over 12,000 French men and women aged between 18 [...]

AusSMC: New research from Europe suggests eating three or more burgers a week may boost a child’s risk of asthma and wheeze – at least in developed nations. Conversely, a Mediterranean diet, rich in fruit, vegetables, and fish seems to stave off the risk, the research shows. The research team base their findings on data [...]