June 28, 2019
Food study looks at poor choices
Lack of money, time, tiredness, stress, beliefs about healthy food and cultural values all feed into what goes onto the family kai table – or we'll just get takeaways.
A team led by Massy University's Professor Marewa Glover as part of the A Better Start National Science Challenge has been looking at food choices by Māori parents and their perceptions of what is healthy.
She says the focus groups she conducted revealed a complex set of factors, and served as a reminder people should not rush to judgment.
"You can't just pick off one issue. For example, they might read this and say 'let's ban takeaway stores.' No, you've got to understand not enough income, the high price of fruit and vegetables, the price of power that keeps going up and up, all of these factors impact on what people are able to buy for their kids," Professor Glover says.
She has developed a model of a kete to show the factors influencing food provision aimed towards having happy children.
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