721 Results

  • Budget 2023 goes a long way to improving housing and wellbeing

    … Budget, announced this week, have implications for housing and public health. This includes new public housing, extending the Warmer Kiwi Homes Programme, and investment in infrastructure. This Briefing article … while most other countries’ populations are stagnant or declining. It is of concern then that the percentage of …
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  • Should you swap sugar for artificial sweetener? Maybe not if you’re a mouse, but what if you’re a human?

    … hiding under a rock lately, you’ll be aware that sugar and its negative impact on dental caries, body weight, and … mice and compared them with mice that were fed only water or water supplemented with either glucose or sucrose (sugar). … significant reduction in body weight (-0.80 kg; 95% CI -1.17 to -0.43), BMI (-0.24 kgm 2 ; 95% CI -0.41 to -0.07), …
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  • A Statue of Merit: Dr Margaret Cruickshank and the 1918 influenza pandemic

    … Some statues are getting bad press at present – and rightly so for the confederate military statues which … in the USA and internationally. Some have been pulled down or officially removed following the uproar over the General … the colonial Premier’s role in alienating Māori land [1]. There is also current day dispute about a memorial in …
    Briefing

  • The Brits are doing it: likely health benefits from a levy on soft drinks

    … is likely to benefit health (reduced obesity, diabetes and dental caries) – when considering a range of different … into a tax to the consumer who may then choose to buy less or buy cheaper lower-sugar products) Reformulate their … in obesity rates (95% uncertainty interval 0.03% to 1.9%) across all ages, but an approximately 10% reduction in …
    Briefing

  • Market deregulation → ↑ fast food consumption → ↑ obesity. Clever international study that includes NZ data

    … year is associated with increases in BMI by 0.33 units (or 1 kg for an average height person).  Of note, the increase … the rest of this blog I will address the study strengths and limitations a bit more.  But if you are not interested in …
    Briefing

  • Is NZ a laggard in responding to climate change?: Results of a Global Index

    … has just been released by Climate Action Network Europe and Germanwatch. Basically, the index uses set criteria to … from token (see past brief reviews on the NZ response – (1) (2) ). Indeed, this year the Government announced an … ethics of climate change . So, to stay a “climate laggard” or become a more responsible “climate leader”? This seems a …
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  • New Zealand E-cigarette trial in Lancet – keeping it in perspective

    … to quit smoking.  This is overstating the study findings. And to be fair to the authors, overstating their conclusions … randomised to e-cigarettes were abstinent at six months, or 7.3%.  This compares to 17 out of 295 people randomised to … patches, or 5.8%.  The difference in percentage points was 1.51%, with a 95% confidence interval of -2.49% (yes, …
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  • The case for lowering salt levels in processed foods is now even stronger – new research

    … studies which suggested that both low sodium (salt) intake and high sodium intake were associated with higher risk of … death, based on various methods to assess sodium intake [1]. The findings suggest “that inaccurate measurement of … used in other studies  (ie, just one 24-hour urine, or spot test estimates using the Kawasaki formula), allowing …
    Briefing

  • Charting our way back to normal

    … Pandemic Trade-offs, allows people to weigh the costs and benefits of different policy responses as Australia rolls out vaccines and considers opening borders. See here for an associated … question this year is – “When can we get back to normal?” Or more pessimistically, “Will we ever get back to normal?” …
    Briefing

  • New Zealand can lead the world in tobacco control: Plain packaging 2.0

    … with smokers; introducing dissuasive cigarette sticks and rolling papers, and foregrounding Quitline information … smoking as an accepted, even aspirational, behaviour (1-3). Results from Australia clearly support our government’s … prevent the proliferation of brand variant names (or descriptors) that occurred in Australia (10). As Scollo et …
    Briefing

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Public Health Expert Briefing (ISSN 2816-1203)