A teen mum from Pokeno will address a crowd of experts at the world's largest health assembly.

A teen mum from Pokeno will address a crowd of experts at the world's largest health assembly. And 19-year-old Jasmine Crosbie believes the obesity challenges of her old South Auckland school surroundings will prove a useful case study for the World Health Organisation's annual meeting in Geneva this month.

COMMENT: The fact of the matter is that Eljae is obese. Markedly so. That's not an insult, that's a fact. And someone needs to own that, writes Andrew Dickens.

COMMENT: We listen to doctors, but when they use terms such as obesity most people take their wisdom with a healthy grain of salt.

COMMENT: No one has even suggested a rate at which the tax should be levied. Without knowing what rate of tax will be imposed no one can know how consumers will react, writes Robin Grieve.

COMMENT: Sure, obesity increases the risks of heart disease, diabetes and sore ankles. But if something is going to kill you, it might as well taste good.

COMMENT: This refusal to confront the obesity-diabetes epidemic is like a replay of the global warming crisis fiasco, writes Brian Rudman

In light of the sugar tax debate we revisit this story about the impact sugar had on singer Che Fu's life.

"The onions are stinging my eyes," 8-year-old Nihaal Singh moaned as he chopped the devilish vegetable - a harsh lesson all budding young chefs must learn.

Have you ever wondered what happens to your body after you drink a can of your favourite fizzy drink?

We are designed to seek food - our drive to do so is essential to our survival and we have a complex system to control this, writes Matthew Haines.

Older toddlers - aged about 2 - are picking up on potentially harmful anti-fat attitudes from their mothers, research suggests.

This advertising campaign will just add to the growing concerns that children already have about their appearance, weight, eating, exercise and health, writes Dr Darren Powell.

Dress sizes have expanded dramatically over the decades, according to experts.

Annette King says Labour's plan betters National's "feeble attempt" to address obesity.

Results from a study into the effects of cutting back on sugar suggest huge implications for the food industry, chronic disease, and health care costs.

Exercising first thing in the morning may lower a woman's risk of becoming overweight.

One hundred thousand more New Zealanders are predicted to become severely obese over the next decade.

Larger men earn more money than those with normal BMI. Larger women earn less.

Eleven years after the Waitemata DHB banned on-site sales of sugar-sweetened soft drinks, the last of the country's 20 DHBs has agreed to follow suit.

Look around a crowd. Look at people in the supermarket car park or, best of all, look around a Westfield food court. Look at us! We're too fat.

We know that, as a nation, we are fat and getting fatter. Obesity is an ever-growing problem (pun intended), Niki writes.

Here are 10 reasons to skip fizzy drinks this summer.

A chef deemed "too fat" for NZ has launched a fresh appeal to stay in the country, claiming that even the All Blacks would fail tough immigration obesity rules.

A high salt intake may be linked to obesity, regardless of how many calories are consumed, experts have suggested.

Obese people may have brains that are hard-wired to find food irresistible, a study has found.

A pint of water after a big night? Or a takeaway to soak up the booze? Scientists have now revealed the only certain cure for a hangover.

Doctors are being urged to promote the powerful benefit of healthy food rather than focusing on calories and handing out drugs.

A study led by a Kiwi academic has found that first-born women are 40 per cent more likely to be obese than their younger sisters.