Fatty food intake big health concern

By FRANCESCA MOLD and KATHERINE HOBY

A new study has found that more than 20 per cent of Maori and Pacific Island people are eating fatty takeaway food at least five times a week.

The study, which surveyed the eating habits of 500 New Zealanders in 15 different parts of the country, provides a snapshot of the types of foods we eat and the effect our diet has on our health.

The survey's release coincided with the launch of a five-plus a day campaign, which this year provides new bilingual resources aimed at boosting Maori children's intake of fruit and vegetables.

The research found that 6 per cent of Pakeha ate deep-fried food such as battered fish, hot chips and deep fried chicken five times or more a week.

This compared to 20 per cent of Maori and 23 per cent of Pacific Island people interviewed.

Auckland University School of Medicine senior lecturer Dr Sitaleki Finau told the Herald that the survey results, though not surprising, were of concern.

Problems faced by Pacific Islanders in particular were "much bigger than just making one person responsible for what they put in their mouth," he said.

"There are bigger issues here, systemic issues in this country that need to be addressed."

Dr Finau said that fatty food comprised the cheapest calories around. Vegetables, especially those Pacific Islanders liked to eat, were either unavailable or very expensive.

"We need to make our agricultural policy multicultural, not monocultural."

He said children's liking for takeaway foods was developed early, and cemented at tuckshops. "Tuckshops are the school training grounds for takeaways."

The research showed the intake of takeaways was high despite 76 per cent of those surveyed saying they were aware eating fatty food regularly could endanger their health and expose them to heart disease and diabetes.

The study raised other concerns for health experts, including that 25 per cent of Maori and Pacific Island people interviewed believed their long-term health was a matter of genetics and luck, rather than diet.

Some 32 per cent of those interviewed said it was not convenient to prepare fruit and vegetables for meals, 38 per cent believed children did not want to eat healthy food and 13 per cent considered it unexciting and bland.

Nutrition adviser Mahina Beeston is trying to promote healthy eating through new resources for Maori children and by working with kohanga reo. Some kohanga reo had restricted "treats" like chocolate yoghurt and potato chips to once a fortnight.

"Maori love their food, but we try to remind them how we used to eat in the old days. We used to dive for seafood, hunt for birds and dig for kumara and potato. There was fitness involved in that process," said Ms Beeston.

Dr Finau said dietary education and exercise programmes aimed at Pacific Islanders were in place.

He urged those eating takeaways to choose hamburgers which contained vegetables instead of fried chicken or fish.

Five-plus a day campaign manager Paula Dudley said the intake of fresh fruit and vegetables rose from an average 3.9 servings per person each day in 1995 to 4.4 in the last year.

But she said it was a concern that latest statistics showed one in four Pacific Island, one in six Maori and one in 12 Pakeha children were obese. Ms Dudley said a change in thinking was needed.