Healthy Eating - Healthy Action
Oranga Kai - Oranga Pumau

Newsletter
Issue 7, January 2008

In This Issue:

• Introduction from Margie Apa
• Government Response Received
• Aoraki Bound
• Jim Mann
• From the HEHA Project Team
  • Guidelines Steering Group
  • National Breastfeeding Social Marketing Campaign
  • Food and Beverage Classification System Support Programme
• Food Industry News
• Mission-On
• Cycling
  • SPARC Cycle-Friendly Award 2007
  • Bike Wise Week 2008
• Feeding our Futures
• News from the Regions
• Introducing Nicholette Pomana
• Info & Tips
• Feedback

---

Introduction from Margie Apa

Firstly, Happy New Year to you all, I hope you’ve had a wonderful festive season and are feeling refreshed as we head into another exciting and challenging year.

Reflecting back on 2007, I think we can be really pleased here at the Ministry and amongst the HEHA sector, on just how much we have achieved in the past 12 months.

There were many highlights last year, including the launch of Feeding our Futures, the Ministry’s healthy eating social marketing campaign, the launch of the Food and Beverage Classifi cation System for schools and early childhood education (ECE) services and then of course the Government Response to the Inquiry into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes being tabled in Parliament at the end of November.

The Government Response has been a major piece of work for the HEHA Project team and will see HEHA activities ramped up over the next 18 months.

The team is still finalising the expanded work programme, given that Fruit in Schools is being expanded to all Decile 2 schools and a Ministerial Committee is being established, which will be led by the Minister of Health.

We’ll also be spending part of 2008 reviewing the current HEHA Strategy in light of the Government’s Response, as well as embarking on other new initiatives that will flow out of the Inquiry, once we receive some clarification from Cabinet.

Over the past few weeks and months, there’s been an increased media focus on bariatric surgery. Right now, Counties Manukau DHB is undertaking a pilot programme and putting forward a business case to the Ministry to review the options for the treatment of morbid obesity, including surgical and non-surgical interventions. This is going to be considered by the Ministry next month and we’ll keep you posted on any developments.

This year we’ll also celebrate some exciting milestones. The Food and Beverage Classification System support programme is currently being rolled out and a product registration database will be up and running online by March. We’ve funded DHBs to appoint District Coordinators in each of the 21 regions to help schools and ECEs implement the Food and Beverage Classification System and they’ll all be in action from next month.

A breastfeeding mass-media campaign is also being planned to begin soon. The HEHA team is in the process of selecting a provider to develop the campaign.

2008 is going to be a challenging year of exciting new developments in the HEHA arena, given our recentlyexpanded work programme and I’m looking forward to taking up that challenge alongside you.

Kind regards,

Margie Apa
Deputy Director-General of the Sector Capability and
Innovation Directorate, Ministry of Health

---

Government response to HSC inquiry into obesity and type 2 diabetes

The Government tabled its response to the Health Select Committee’s Inquiry into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in late November, giving the HEHA Project team at the Ministry more scope to ramp up the current level of HEHA activity.

The Health Select Committee (HSC) launched the Inquiry in February 2006 and released its report at the end of August 2007. The Government then had 90 working days to formally respond. The HSC report made 55 recommendations and the Government largely agrees with 47 of them. The current HEHA Strategy will be revised and activity increased over the coming year.

HEHA Programme Manager Cynthia Maling says the recommendations made in the Government Response will require an increased work programme this year and in out years.

Cynthia says many of the issues raised in the HSC’s report have already begun to be addressed. However, the Ministry recognises that the current HEHA Strategy needs to be reviewed and strengthened to ensure we continue to improve the health of all New Zealanders.

View a copy of the Government Reponse on the Parliament.nz website.

Some of the Government Response recommendations included:

The establishment of a Ministerial Committee, chaired by the Minister of Health, to provide high-level, strong, whole-of-government leadership with a focus on improving the obesogenic environments. The Ministerial Committee will also work alongside a steering group to set agreed targets. The group will include non-government organisations, academics, Maori and Pacific representatives and the food and advertising industries.

Expansion of the Fruit in Schools programme to all Decile 2 schools. This will mean that around 450 low-decile schools will be part of Fruit in Schools by April 2009.

Further investment in workforce development to build Maori and Pacific capability and capacity and enhancement of the diabetes workforce. The Government will also support scholarships with a focus on the need to increase the number of Maori and Pacific dietitians in the health workforce.

---

Aoraki Bound

Canterbury radio station leads the way in lifestyle change programme.

“We were just like the Simpsons – our evening meals consisted of TV dinners every night,” confesses Ra Dallas, who hosts a breakfast show on Canterbury’s Tahu FM, and is the driving force behind the new whanau-based weight loss programme called the Hundie Club.

At 134kg before the start of the programme, Ra was a self-confessed “procrastinator”. “I liked nothing better than sitting on the sofa, watching and criticising sport whilst eating chips and drinking beer. I was full of talk about getting fit and losing weight, but like so many of my friends I never did anything about it.”

In August 2007, that changed. Having been inspired by several of his colleagues at Tahu FM, Ra signed himself up for Aoraki Bound next month. A rigorous month-long programme of healthy eating and exercise, including running a half marathon, Aoraki Bound was a daunting challenge for a man weighing over a hundred kilos. To get himself in shape, and to encourage others to do the same, Ra launched the Hundie Club.

Designed for people who weigh more than 100kg, are physically inactive, and keen to change, the club is a unique community and whanau-based programme that is really starting to deliver results. The core group of 13 members meets 2 or 3 times a week taking part in activities ranging from walks in the park, to gym sessions, to cooking workshops. Lisa Reedy, Ra’s co-presenter on the Tahu FM breakfast show, has also taken on the Hundie Club challenge. With her wedding to aim for in 2008, Lisa is every bit as motivated as Ra.

The programme is supported by Hauora Matauraka at Community & Public Health (a division of Canterbury DHB), and CATINC (Community Action to Improve Nutrition Capacity), a combined project between the local PHOs and Community & Public Health.

“The thing that makes the Hundie Club different is the involvement of the whole whanau in the programme. My brother-in-law used to be a KFC freak, but he hasn’t eaten a takeaway at all since the Hundie Club began. And my mum goes to the gym every day now,” says Ra. “Although there are only about 13 of us who are core members of the Hundie Club, some of our sessions have up to 40 people there, as everyone brings along the wh- nau. It’s great to see the impact it is having on the whole community”.

With Aoraki Bound looming in a couple of weeks, the pressure is firmly on. But the challenge doesn’t end there. “Originally we thought this would be a one off, but a few of us who are involved in the Hundie Club this time would really love to run similar programmes again in the future,” says Ra.

For more information on getting involved in the Hundie Club, or for updates on Ra’s progress as the countdown to Aoraki Bound continues, check out the Tahu FM website at www.tahufm.com

This article was submitted by Alison Beck, HEHA Communications Advisor at Canterbury DHB.

---

Up Close: Jim Mann

2007 was a big year for the public health nutrition sector in terms of promoting healthy eating and healthy action. Before we say a formal farewell to 2007 and look to the new year we asked Jim Mann, Professor in Human Nutrition and Medicine at the University of Otago, to reflect on the last 12 months.

“Looking at all that has happened you could defi nitely say 2007 was a year of considerable activity!

It’s over 30 years since the obesity epidemic was put under the global spotlight in the Royal College of Physicians report on the First International Congress on Obesity. It’s amazing how the predictions made back then about the spread and impact of the obesity epidemic have become reality for so many countries today. So when we look at all the activity taking place this last year, it’s great to see that so much is finally being done within the Inquiry into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. The plans to establish a cross-sectoral Ministerial Committee suggest that obesity is now being viewed by the Government at the same level of concern as an infectious disease would be. This is a significant shift in terms of how we see the disease.

The cross-sectoral group will be bringing together experts from independent organisations, NGO’s and Government representatives from the Ministries of Health and Education, and it’s this combination that gives the group the potential to have a really strong impact on the future efforts and action that will be taken to challenge the spread of obesity.

The advice of those members will be critical in shaping future efforts, as will their ability to be both pro-active as well as reactive in their role. They are a key body for ensuring that action does happen.

In terms of other action areas I know that many people were hoping to see legislation come from the Government’s Response to the Inquiry, especially in relation to legislation about the marketing of unhealthy food to children. Yet looking forward I think that the Public Health Bill offers a key step in identifying what measures the food industry is prepared to take for its contribution to fighting obesity. It will be interesting to see this unfold.

These are definitely exciting times in Public Health – and the focus looking forward to 2008 will not just be about talking, but about taking action!”

This article was written by Anna Passera, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager, Feeding our Futures, Health Sponsorship Council.

---

Update from the HEHA Project Team

Guidelines Steering Group

The Guidelines Steering Group has met for the second time to continue to help inform the development of guidelines for the management of overweight and obesity.

Chaired by Professor Peter Crampton, the guidelines will recommend best practice to clinicians and public health professionals.

“There is an extraordinary bunch of people sitting on the Guidelines Steering Group who bring a diverse range of perspectives to the table. There are a number of complex issues when it comes to managing overweight and obese people and there is no quick, easy fix.”

Professor Crampton says there’s also a diversity of understandings about what obesity actually is, what causes it and what we do about it. “It’s not only developed countries facing increased rates of obesity and diabetes but increasingly poor countries too.”

The group meets again in April.

National Breastfeeding Social Marketing Campaign

A breastfeeding social marketing campaign is set to begin in April this year.

It is part of the national breastfeeding promotion campaign, which aims to increase the proportion of infants being exclusively breastfed to six months and
partially breastfed beyond six months.

A comprehensive plan to inform the design of a national breastfeeding promotion campaign was developed last year. It recommended that a range of strategies and messages are used to improve support for mothers and to promote and encourage supportive environments for breastfeeding.

The focus of the mass-media campaign is on informational support, particularly targeted at Maori and Pacific peoples. It will include two stages:

1. Increasing family/whanau support to initiate and maintain breastfeeding, in particular for Maori and Pacific peoples.

2. Increasing broader community support, including workplaces and early childhood education services/ childcare.

A Request for Proposals (RFP) process was carried out late last year and the HEHA Project team is currently working on selecting a provider.

There are a number of other components to the national breastfeeding promotion campaign, including an infant feeding health promotion, the Baby Friendly Initiative, workforce training and development, strategy and policy alignment and monitoring and evaluation.

Food and beverage classification system support programme

Many schools and early childhood education (ECE) services have already begun implementing the Food and Beverage Classification System (FBCS) since receiving their support resources in August last year.

To help support schools and ECE services to continue their hard work, the HEHA Project team has contracted the New South Wales Healthy Kids School Canteen Association (NSW Healthy Kids SCA) to implement a FBCS support programme. Components of the Food and Beverage Classification System support programme include:

• An 0800 freephone line for people who choose or prepare food for school canteens and tuckshops. Help and information is available for questions about the classification system.
  
• A product registration scheme and product database. Food and beverage manufacturers will be required to submit their products, along with the nutritional information, that they would like to be sold or provided in schools. Lists of these ‘everyday’ and ‘sometimes’ registered products will be available as a product database. This database will be available online in March and hard copies will be distributed to schools by the middle of 2008.
  
• A quarterly newsletter for schools which will keep you updated on food and nutrition issues in the education setting.
  
• 21 District Coordinator positions – one position for each district health board around New Zealand. The Ministry of Health is funding these positions to assist schools to access the Nutrition Fund and implement the Food and Beverage Classification System.

---

Update: Food Industry News

There has been much work going on behind the scenes amongst food and beverage manufacturers to reformulate products so they fit in with the Food and Beverage Classifi cation System, launched last year.

One company to take up the challenge is Cookie Time Ltd in Christchurch. Creative Director at Cookie Time, Jonathan Collins says their Smart brand arose from their desire to give their overall product range more balance.

The Smart brand has been one of the leading priorities for Cookie Time over the past 24 months with managers, food technologists and marketers involved in the project, as they would with any new product. Focus groups were used at various stages of the project to ensure that the product would be accepted by the target market.

“We launched our first Smart Cookie in October 2006, then relaunched a new and improved range of Smart Cookies in October last year which meets the criteria for the ‘sometimes’ category of the Ministry’s Food and Beverage Classification System and the Heart Foundation Tick.”

He says the original concept of the Smart Cookie came about at the end of 2005. Throughout 2006, the company’s food technologists worked on the development of a recipe that would deliver the attributes requested in the brief.

“There is a growing demand for products that meet both the requirements of being enjoyed by the child as a treat, while at the same time, being a genuinely healthier option. This was an area that we saw the Smart Cookie fitting nicely.”

Jonathan says, “Growing concern about increasing screen time and decreasing activity time and attention on the food consumption aspect of the inputs/outputs equation created a heightened awareness of the need to educate about moderation and balance. We were keen to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, and sought to offer a wider choice of products and smarter options.”
Because of the complexity of meeting strict nutritional criteria with the Ministry’s Food and Beverage Classification System and the need to create a product that also competes on a ‘taste experience’ level to draw children away from less-healthy options, the number of competitive products to the Smart Cookie are very few.

Jonathan says that it is still too early to evaluate its commercial success, but from a product development point of view, its success is very evident with indications suggesting that the Smart Cookie has so far been well received.

---

Update: Mission-On

Initiative 2: Student Health Promotion

Initiative 2 of Mission-On is Student Health Promotion and the Ministries of Education and Health have come up with an innovative idea to contribute to the goals of this initiative in 2008.

Fuelled 4 School is a Mission-On pilot competition being launched next month, aimed at improving the eating habits and overall health of intermediate and secondary school students.

Over the next year, the Fuelled 4 School challenge will provide funding, support and incentives for students from 50 intermediate and secondary schools to develop and implement their own ideas to improve their health and the health of their peers.

One student group from each school will receive $1,500 to develop and implement a plan to encourage fellow students to eat better (and stay active). Tools and templates have been created to assist the students in their planning.

When applications closed on 21 December 2007, more than 70 Expressions of Interest had been received, from which 50 pilot schools are now being selected.

Next month, at the beginning of Term 1, each school selected for the pilot will receive information to help them get started on their plans and Fuelled 4 School ‘welcome packs’ to distribute to new students.

A website at www.fuelled4school.co.nz has been created to further assist students at pilot schools, as well as providing a platform for engaging intermediate and secondary school students not in the pilot.

In March, representatives from all of the pilot schools will get together in Wellington for a national workshop, which will provide students with further inspiration and support to develop their launch plans. These plans will then be finalised and submitted for approval at the end of Term 1. The plans will be implemented over Terms 2 and 3, with judging and an awards ceremony held in Term 4.

Following a formal evaluation of the Fuelled 4 School pilot, the Ministries of Education and Health will look at how they might extend the Fuelled 4 School challenge to other schools in the future.

---

Cycling

SPARC Cycle-Friendly Award 2007

The NZ Cycling Conference 2007 in November last year also doubled as the awards ceremony for the SPARC Cycle-Friendly Awards.

Now in its fifth year, the Cycle-Friendly Awards are designed to help acknowledge and celebrate some of the most notable achievements nationwide that are helping to promote cycling and to create a cycle-friendly environment.

Minister of Transport Annette King presented the awards to the following groups and organisations, from a total of 47 nominations:

Avanti Award for Best Cycle Facility Project:

Transit NZ for Basin Reserve Cycle/Pedestrian Crossings

Land Transport NZ Award for Best Cycling Promotion:

Massey University PR Team On Ya Bike

Land Transport NZ Award for Cycle-Friendly Commitment to Business:

MWH New Zealand LTD for Green kilometres on ‘pool’ bikes

ViaStrada Award for Cycle-Friendly Commitment by a Public Organisation:

Nelson City Council for ‘Nelson City Council – Pedalling Along’

Roger Boulter Consulting Award for Cycling Champion of the Year:

Tama Easton (VORB Owner/Director, Editor of Spoke Magazine)

Bike Wise Week 2008

The Ministry of Health is proud to again be supporting Bike Wise Week 2008 which runs from the 23rd of February until the 2nd of March.

The Ministry, along with Land Transport New Zealand, funds the Bike Wise Programme to increase active and safe participation in cycling. The aim of Bike Wise is to encourage more New Zealanders to safely cycle for recreation, sport and transport.

Bike Wise Week 2008 will feature the three major events as in past years – the Bike Wise Business Battle, Go By Bike Day and the Mayoral Challenge.

The Bike Wise Business Battle is a fun competition that encourages more people to give cycling a go, whilst creating a healthier, happier work environment.
Organisations or departments compete against each other to see who can get the highest percentage of staff to ride a bike during the Bike Wise Business Battle competition from 18 February to 2 March.

The Go By Bike Day on Wednesday 27 February encourages Kiwis to ditch the car or bus and take their bike to work instead. Last year, 35 cities and towns around New Zealand hosted organised breakfast events on the morning of Go By Bike Day.

The Mayoral Challenge involves a fun bike ride through your city or town with your Mayor and other local celebrities. Everyone that participates earns points for their particular Mayor, and the Mayor with the most points wins the national Cycle Mad City Award.

Registrations are now open for these events and more information can be found at www.bikewise.co.nz or by emailing bikewise@landtransport.govt.nz

---

Feeding our Futures

Healthy Eating on the Menu for Children's Day!

Thousands of kids around New Zealand will have a new item on their Children’s Day activity menu in 2008: healthy eating. For the fi rst time the Feeding our Futures national programme will be providing support and information for parents and community groups involved in activities around this important national day.

“We’re delighted to be able to work with Children’s Day to bring our healthy eating tips and resources to more parents and families across New Zealand,” says Michelle Mako, Programme Manager for Feeding our Futures.

Children’s Day will be held on the 2nd of March. It is an annual noncommercial day that’s all about celebrating our nation’s children.

“As this year’s theme is ‘new experiences’ we thought it was a great opportunity to talk to parents and kids about getting children to try new foods, new tastes and develop new skills to do with food and eating healthy,” said Michelle. “Children’s tastes change as grow to love as they mature. The message to parents is – don’t give up and keep offering them healthy foods like vegetables – they’ll soon get used to loving them!”

Children’s Day has grown into a major nationwide celebration, with hundreds of events held around the country attended by thousands of children and their families. It is supported by a wide range of organisations and people, including the offi cial Children’s Day patron, Her Excellency Susan Satyanand.
As well as promoting ‘new experiences’, Children’s Day is also a chance to promote important messages about giving children time and other things children need in their life to be happy – like love and affection, praise and encouragement and the art of listening and talking.

For more information about Children’s Day visit www.childrensday.org.nz

For more information on Feeding our Futures: www.feedingourfutures.org.nz

This article was written by Anna Passera, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager, Feeding our Futures, Health Sponsorship Council.

---

News From the Regions

Waikato DHB is showing its support for healthy action by encouraging staff to participate in sporting events.

Janet Hanvey, HEHA Project Manager said there had been an “awesome response” from staff wanting to participate in a number of activities but the best was the annual Round the Bridges race in Hamilton.

“We entered a team of 210 staff members, all keen and enthusiastic to take part. It was the first official team to be entered by Waikato DHB and ended up being the biggest entry in the event’s 63 year history.” Janet, who was part of the team, said the HEHA team called for entrants through the intranet and had only expected to be putting forward a team of around 50 people.

“We gave them two weeks to get their entries in but I still had entry forms coming in after the closing date. Everyone wanted to get in on the fun,” she said.

The team was made up of staff from different areas of Waikato DHB and each team member was given a red HEHA shirt to wear on the day which Janet said made the biggest team on the day the one that stood out the most too.

“We were a sea of red and you couldn’t miss us. It all made for a really great day,” she said. Waikato DHB’s Maori Health Unit – Te Puna Oranga is also working to get HEHA messages out to the Maori community. Eight staff members from the unit successfully completed the recent Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge as a way to provide a role model and encourage other Maori people to get out and do more physical activity.

---

Introducing...

Nicholette Pomana,
HEHA Programme Manager, Hutt Valley DHB

2007 was a huge year for Nicholette Pomana since beginning the year in a new role as the HEHA Programme Manager at Hutt Valley DHB.

The mother-of-two from Nuhaka in northern Hawkes Bay, affliates to Rakaipaaka, Rongomaiwahine me Ngati Kahungunu iwi. She came to the job last year, bringing with her a vast amount of knowledge and experience through her work within the public and Maori health sectors, having had previous roles at a national level as a Maori manager with The Quit Group, the Maori advisor to the Ministry of Health’s National Immunisation Programme, working on the development of the National Immunisation Register and MeNZB programmes as well as a range of other local and regional coordination roles in public health in Auckland.

Nicholette says the biggest challenge she faces in the Hutt Valley is trying to do everything required of the HEHA role and needing it to happen all at once. “There are and were plenty of ‘Healthy Action’ initiatives happening around Te Awakairangi (the original name for the Hutt Valley). We’re using the ‘Healthy Action’ part of HEHA as the hook for Maori and Pacific populations to encourage and build on more of the ‘Healthy Eating’ side of things.”

“Selling the HEHA message has actually been one of the easy parts of the job. I have been surprised at how many people know of the HEHA brand and the key messages surrounding it. We’re ensuring that those messages are presented in a way that is relevant and appropriate to the different audience groups, particularly in respect of languages and cultures.”

Nicholette says they’ve made use of the Ministry’s colourful HEHA banners at various events, from the ‘Drop it like Itz HUTT’ youth forum, the Hutt Valley Interzone Primary Athletics Day, the Lower Hutt Central Zone Primary Schools Touch Tournament and the Valley-wide kohanga reo annual event ‘Te Ra o Nga Mokopuna’.

“One of the exciting parts of the role is working with the communities and groups that are doing some awesome work. Very recently we’ve become involved with the Wainuiomata Rugby League Pukeatua Programme which focuses on at-risk Wainuiomata youth, in association with ex-league stars and locals Ken Laban and Johnny Lomax. The boys attend intensive training sessions three times a week to set them on a pathway to a successful rugby league career and I’ve managed to head along to these at 6-30am to provide a nutritious breakfast and basic nutritional advice to the boys.”

Nicholette says the support that the Hutt Valley DHB HEHA team is providing is minimal compared to what the community and the people of Wainuiomata are contributing.

“I’m looking forward to developing our involvement with this programme and many more in 2008, to continue to improve the lifestyles of those living in the Hutt Valley.”

What's Happening in Nicholette's Region:
Hutt Valley DHB Student Cadetship Programme

As part of the Hutt Valley DHB Student Cadetship Programme, the HEHA team at the DHB has had two nutrition students working with Nicholette over the summer break. Both students are the recipients of the Te Rau Matatini – Manu Tipuranga Scholarship programme.

Tammy Kaiwai is studying nutrition with an intention to go on to dietetics, through the University of Otago and Adrian Maxwell is studying towards his BSc with a focus on nutrition at Massey University. Both originate from the Hutt Valley, with Tammy from Wainuiomata and Adrian from Lower Hutt.

Nicholette says both Tammy and Adrian have been providing assistance at a range of events and activities, in particular several Tamaiti Whangai initiatives within the community and the Wainuiomata Rugby League Pukeatua Programme.

“Tammy has been having early starts on Monday and Friday mornings, heading along at 6-30am to the training session and providing basic nutrition advice to the boys during their healthy breakfast.”

“Recently she did a nutrition quiz with them and got them thinking about how much physical activity you’d have to do if you ate certain foods. You might be interested to know that to burn off the fat in a medium-sized burger meal you’d have to jog vigourously for about two hours!”

Nicholette says Adrian’s combined his sports management and nutrition skills to provide advice to the boys on the link between what you eat and how you perform.

“I’m delighted to have Tammy and Adrian working alongside me over the summer. Our support for them will be ongoing throughout the year and they’ll be back with us next summer too.”

The summer Student Cadetship Programme is supported and championed by the DHB’s Maori Health Advisor Kuini Puketapu and CEO Chai Chuah. “We like to think we are doing a little bit towards boosting the Maori nutrition and dietetic workforce of the future and have no qualms about encouraging both Tammy and Adrian to come back to work for Hutt Valley DHB.”

“Given what we know from the Health Select Committee Inquiry into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes, the need to improve the lifestyles of our whanau and our tamariki also need to be matched by a workforce with expertise and knowledge around nutrition and physical activity,” says Nicholette.

---

Info & Tips

Library Corner

The following include the latest studies and research in the HEHA arena:

Garden-Based Nutrition Education Affects Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Sixth-Grade Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of garden-based nutrition education on adolescents’ fruit and vegetable consumption.

The research showed that adolescents who participated in garden-based nutrition intervention increased their servings of fruits and vegetables more than two other student groups who did not participate.

Significant increases were also found in vitamin A, vitamin C and fibre intake.

Although further research is needed, the results of the study indicate the efficacy of using garden-based nutrition education to increase adolescents’ consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Journal of the American Dietetic Association, April 2007 (Volume 107, Issue 4)

Sleep Duration in Middle Childhood: Risk Factors and Consequences

A study of New Zealand seven-year- olds has found that sleeping fewer than nine hours a night is associated with being overweight or obese, even after accounting for time spent watching television and physical exercise.

The study, published on 1 January 2008 in the scientific journal Sleep, followed 591 children in New Zealand since birth, making periodic health and developmental assessments and interviewing parents.

Ed Mitchell, senior author and a professor of child health research at Auckland University was quoted on TV3 News as saying, “The study is important from the perspective of providing another means of preventing the development of obesity”.

http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?citationid=3449

---

HEHA Tips

Healthy eating is...

Summer is the season for fruits such as berries and stone fruits like plums, peaches and nectarines, so make the most of their availability. Try making some summer fruit salads to take to work or having fruit as a healthy after dinner snack.

Healthy action is...

Getting out on your bike. Register for Bike Wise Week now (23 Feb – 2 March 2008) at www.bikewise.co.nz

Register for the Bike Wise Business Battle with your workmates and get out on your bike training. Remember to stay safe while cycling by:

• Checking your bike regularly – brakes, tyres, chain, reflectors and light
• Make sure you can be seen – bright-coloured clothes, lights and reflectors all help
• Wear an approved helmet. Make sure it fits firmly and keep it done up.
  If your helmet gets dented or breaks, replace it
• Know the road rules and follow them.

---

HEHA Action Report Feeback

We would love to get your feedback on this bi-monthly newsletter and, of course, to hear how HEHA is being implemented in your respective regions. Please send your contributions to Victoria_Evans@moh.govt.nz.

Page last updated: 25 January 2008