It's all those pies!

Kiwis stick to deadly love affair
Saturday, 16 December 2006
CRAIG SIMCOX/Dominion Post

HEALTH CONCERNS: An online heart health survey has revealed that one in five Kiwis prefer full-fat milk. New Zealanders' continuing love affair with full-fat dairy products is contributing to the country's biggest killer – heart disease.

An online heart health survey, conducted by Southern Cross Healthcare and filled in by more than 21,000 people, found one in five New Zealanders preferred full-fat milk and one in 10 preferred butter to margarine.

Other choices high in saturated fat included cheese – nearly one in three ate four of more slices a week – and icecream, with one in eight eating three or more scoops each week.

Auckland University epidemiologist Rod Jackson said he was surprised people who were motivated enough and interested enough in health to do the test were still eating a lot of saturated fats – the biggest cause of high blood cholesterol and a key risk factor in cardiovascular disease.

New Zealand's heart disease death rate was three or four times higher than that of Japan, he said. "Their rate is what we should be aiming for."

Unrepentant dairy-eater Brent Bircher, of Christchurch, could not explain why he continued to prefer "blue" milk over "green" and to eat up to nine slices of cheese and 12 scoops of icecream a week. "I don't know why. I just take life as I go," he said.

Drinking a full-fat milkshake yesterday, Bircher, 23, said there was no heart disease in his family and his work as a window cleaner meant he burnt off whatever he ate.

Stomach surgery 'needed for teens'
By KAMALA HAYMAN - The Press | Saturday, 23 December 2006

Surgeons are calling for children to be offered publicly funded stomach-stapling operations in a bid to treat soaring rates of extreme obesity.

New Zealand hospitals have been reluctant to consider weight-loss operations in young adolescents because of the risks of major surgery, and the potential for long-term complications such as nutrient deficiency.

However, growing numbers of teenagers are so overweight they are suffering diseases previously seen almost exclusively in adults. These include type-2 diabetes, sleep apnoea, high blood pressure and gall bladder disease. Some are at risk of heart attacks and strokes in their 20s.

Paediatric surgeons are saying it is time to make stomach-stapling surgery more readily available with the complicated health needs of morbidly obese adolescents now impacting on the care of other children. Society of Paediatric Surgeons president Brendon Bowkett said in one week his service had cancelled planned operations for seven children because of the needs of two adolescents weighing 170kg and 112kg.

"If we have a child come in with a complicated problem because of obesity, the net result is four or five other children are bumped off the list." He said he saw about four children a year who needed the surgery and he referred them to the largely private service for adults.

The surgery can cost between $12,000 and $20,000 and about 400 a year were done, most on adults and only a handful publicly funded. "We can't afford to have any more obese children. We can't deal with the ones we've got at the moment," he said.

Obesity Surgery Society president Robert Fris said New Zealand had been cautious in offering such surgery to adolescents but evidence was mounting that it should not be delayed till adulthood. Delays risked physical health problems developing or worsening and could lead to permanent psychological damage.

Dr Fris, who had just operated on a 15-year-old weighing 199kg, said some adolescents had out-of-control diabetes or high blood pressure. "We are worried they will have a stroke or heart attack in their 20s."

The Health Ministry lists obesity as one of 13 health priorities. It costs $300 million a year and kills more than 1000 people annually, double the road toll.

Outed - Snack foods that make kids fatter
Tuesday January 23, 2007
By Martha McKenzie-Minifie


These are just three of the foods that Choice says are just as fattening as fast food. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Feed a child Nestle's Milo Cereal and the energy intake is right up there with pies or hot chips.

The cereal is one of several snacks available in New Zealand that a consumer magazine has "outed" for making children fat.

Choice, the Australian Consumers Association's magazine, has included the cereal, Ribena drink, and Uncle Toby's Roll Ups among its "foods that make kids fatter faster."

Despite often being enticingly tagged as "all natural", "low GI", and "real fruit", a single serving of some of the snack foods analysed by Choice pack as much of a kilojoule punch as a Big Mac.

More here .

Good move but hope they still taste OK.

Goodbye to fatty pies
9:45AM Sunday February 25, 2007
By Michelle Coursey

The end may be nigh for the Kiwi pie as we know it. A new national group of business and health industry representatives, called the Pie Group, is planning to give the favourite New Zealand "maggot pack" a nutritional makeover.

Representatives from the Baking Industry Association of New Zealand, the Food Industry Group, ingredient suppliers, pie makers, the NZ Heart Foundation, the Auckland Regional Public Health Service and the Ministry of Health make up the group.

Its aim is to formulate new standards for pie-making that will reduce the fat content, and combat the "golf ball of fat per pie" myth.

The idea is based on the Chip Group, a similar initiative that set guidelines for reducing fat in hot chips by up to 20 per cent.

More here .

[MotherBear]

Baker's breakthrough makes tuckshop pies healthier
5:00AM Monday April 23, 2007

The humble tuckshop pie has just got a whole lot healthier due to a breakthrough by a Hawkes Bay pie-maker.

Goodtime Food is rolling out a range of meat pies today that has on average less than nine grams of fat per 100g, or 13g a pie.

Managing director Phil Pollett said: "Comparing our total fats with the industry average of 23 grams shows a considerable reduction in fat and is also a far cry from the 'golf ball of fat' claims of the past."

The range of pies is among the first to get the Heart Foundation's tick of approval. Jesters pies, based in Takapuna, Auckland, also claims to have several products which have been awarded the tick.

Based on current consumption, more than 150,000 pies are expected to be sold to schools each week throughout the country.

Mr Pollett said Goodtime was motivated to gain the foundation's tick to meet demand from schools to produce a healthier pie.

"We realised we needed to do something to change pies and their image for the better, otherwise the future for pies in schools is bleak."

More here .

[MotherBear]

Just fell over this pic which gives 'food' for thought.

[MotherBear]

Pies and chips still rule in school
10:05AM Monday May 28, 2007


File photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Sausage rolls, hot dogs, pies and biscuits remain at the top of the menu at schools, a survey has found.

Increased awareness of the dangers of childhood obesity and the release of Food and Nutrition Guidelines for schools seem to have made little difference to what children are offered to eat, according to the Green Party.

The party's third annual survey of 50 schools found that 84 per cent of them still sell pies, hot dogs, sausage rolls or hot bites. There was no fruit on the menu of 48 per cent of the schools surveyed and fewer schools were offering rolls and sandwiches than in last year's survey.

Green Party Health spokesperson Sue Kedgley said: "Given the continued focus on childhood obesity, and rising rates of type 2 diabetes and dental decay it was extremely disappointing and frankly baffling to find that schools are still selling foods that undermine rather than contribute to children's health and their ability to concentrate and learn in class.

"Most parents wouldn't feed their children a constant diet of pies, sausage rolls, donuts and chips, so why do we allow our schools to sell this sort of food?"

There were improvements in some areas - a reduction in the number of schools selling chips for example.

"The survey shows that simply waiting for schools to improve their menus voluntarily isn't going to work. We need to make the Food and Nutrition Guidelines mandatory, so that all schools have a statutory obligation to only sell healthy food and drink," Ms Kedgley said.

More here .

[MotherBear]

Unhealthy food ban a surprise say principals
Page 1 of 2 1:00PM Monday June 11, 2007


Schools are no longer allowed to offer unhealthy options for sale.

Government moves to get schools to sell only healthy foods have come as a complete surprise, principals said today.

Changes to school regulations, the National Administration Guidelines, are to be announced today.

It is expected that sales of food and drink with high fat, sugar and salt content would either not be allowed, or be restricted, on school premises.

Education Minister Steve Maharey today said the changes were part of the health Mission On programme and the guidelines had been discussed for months before being confirmed today.

But New Zealand Principals Federation president Judy Hanna said the move had not been well signalled.

"Principals don't know about it yet -- it's arriving today in their mailout," she said today.

"It wasn't a well-signalled move at all."

Ms Hanna said the government had put a lot of money into the Mission On programme, which promoted healthy eating in schools.

"We don't have a problem with that - there is a problem with obese children. But this is a National Administration Guideline which is a compliance.

"It says schools, where they sell food and drink, may only offer healthy options. The way it is stated, there is no room for interpretation, no room movement."

Mr Maharey said today most schools had been preparing for the changes and he had had no complaints.

More here

[MotherBear]

Principals lash out at 'food police' diet
Page 1 of 2 5:00AM Tuesday June 12, 2007
By Martin Johnston


Fundraiser sausage sizzles are deemed exceptable - but only four times a year

Principals have reacted angrily to the Government ban on daily sales of unhealthy food at school canteens, some ridiculing it as an intrusion of state "food police".

Under Government guidelines issued yesterday, state and integrated schools must ensure that all foods and drinks sold on the premises are healthy varieties.

But the Ministry of Education advice on the guidelines contains a contradiction by indicating unhealthy foods may still be offered, but only occasionally - "about once a term, for example, for particular events".

This suggests Parent Teacher Association sausage sizzles to raise money will be acceptable - four times a year - but if children can buy the likes of pies, sausage rolls and high-fat muffins daily, a school might fall foul of the Education Review Office.

The advice states that school barbecues or hangi should continue - and should include a healthy salad.

The new rules, contained in the National Administration Guidelines, come into effect next June. They will be based on a food and drink classification system to be produced by the Ministry of Health within weeks.

More here .

[MotherBear]

Pupils rush to dairy for after-class fatty fill-up
Page 1 of 2 5:00AM Wednesday June 13, 2007
By Martha McKenzie-Minifie and Martin Johnston

Pupils of an Auckland college yesterday laughed off the Government's ban on daily pie sales at school as they got their supply from a dairy across the road.

Within two minutes of classes ending, Northcote College students surged down Onewa Rd and their hungry hands reached for meat pies, crisps, lollies and soft drinks at College Dairy.

This typical after-school buy-up came a day after the Government announced that from next June, daily sales of unhealthy foods would be banned at state and integrated schools.

They would be allowed only "occasionally" - about four times a year.

Northcote year-9 pupil Hayden Helleur, who said he had brought popcorn from home for lunch, needed energy for rugby practice after school.

The 13-year-old ate from the dairy "maybe twice a week, but only if I've got enough money". Yesterday he had two pies.

Two-pie schoolmate Jason Manuel, 13, was not bothered by the growing restrictions on unhealthy foods at schools.

"I just go up to the Highbury shops."

Senior pupils said their tuckshop had already changed to healthier options such as potato-topped pies and wedges rather than thin hot chips.

College principal Vicki Barrie supported the Government's move, but said the school's healthy-food policy was already undermined by having a dairy so close.

"We have to police the boundaries during the day."

Judging by the student swoop, College Dairy owner Jeffrey Kim might need to stock up for boom times ahead.

He urged regulating the amount of fat and sugar in all foods rather than eliminating junk food from school canteens.

"Even if the Government makes rules to ban children from buying fast food at the tuckshop, they can go any other place."

Obesity Action Coalition spokeswoman Leigh Sturgiss said the argument - used by some principals - that children would avoid the ban by buying unhealthy food off-site was a "cop-out".

Kowhai Intermediate principal Paul Douglas said this did not happen when his school's canteen went healthy a couple of years ago. "We haven't got screeds of kids arriving at school with lukewarm pies or buns or things to eat during the day because they don't like the food at the canteen."

More here