April 24, 2023
Healthy lunch good start to diabetes fix
A leading nutritionist and Māori health expert wants the government to do more to fight diabetes .
Massey University Associate Professor Lisa Te Morenga from Health Coalition Aotearoa says type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions.
She says people need to eat better from a young age, and a good start would be extending the healthy lunch in schools programme, which is currently available to just one in four children.
“The guidelines around what those lunches look like are based on the sorts of recommendations that diabetes report is making – whole grains, fruits and vegetables, not a lot of sugar, not a lot of salt and fat. That will take pressure off households so they’ve got a bit more money in the food budget and it’s also a good way of role-modelling to kids,” Dr Te Morenga says.
She says the people who spend most money telling young people what to eat is the fast food industry, not health professionals.