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A Maori public health researcher says a new weight competition is a direct challenge to the packaged food industry.
The Ka Mau Te Wehi trial will pit seven teams of seven in three regions to find out whether such competitions are an effective way to help people lose weight.
Project leader Marewa Glover from Massey University says it’s similar to the Wero developed to help people quit smoking, and uses the fact Maori like to do things as groups or whanau.
That’s critical as losing weight may be about changing the eating and living conditions of whole whanau.
People will be helped to understand what goes into the food they eat, and how to counter the marketing ploys of the food industry .
"They really want us eating more of this packaged, highly-processed stuff. There's sugar hidden in all of that stuff and you've just got to lean what to look out for as well, because it's so hard to lose weight if you think you are having something healthy and it's loaded with sugar," Dr Marewa Glover says.
The competition will be run through Maori health providers in Northland and Manawatu, as well as a separate Pasifika focused challenge for Auckland.
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