An unconscious 61-year-old diabetic man was believed to have been lying on a Dunedin park bench for a day and a night before he died.

Overweight people have surprisingly beaten out your normal Joe Average on the mortality scale, a statistical survey of medical studies has shown.

The Government is more interested in Prince Charles' visit than in finding ways to combat the "major epidemic" of diabetes, nutrition and diabetes expert Prof Jim Mann says.

Newborns and unborn babies in later pregnancy have been dying in South Auckland at a higher rate than the national average for most of the past decade.

The New Zealand maker of a revolutionary diabetes therapy, Living Cell Technologies, has been rescued from closure by a $32.1m Japanese injection.

A new study, published in Diabetes Care, has shown sleep may reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in obese teens.

New Zealand's obesity rate surged ahead in the 12 years to 2009, a major nutrition report released today by the Ministry of Health shows.

Scientists blame the increase on the spread of a Western-style diet, leading to rising levels of obesity.