Strong leadership on sugary drink ban in Auckland

Media Release
University of Auckland
26 July 2016

Embargo to 12 noon on Wednesday 27 July 2016

A two year strategy to eliminate sugary drinks starting with vending machines Auckland wide is an excellent way to change the environment in order to tackle obesity, says FIZZ NZ spokesman, Dr Gerhard Sundborn.

“This new Auckland Council initiative shows strong leadership from the Council,” he says.

“Poor nutritional choices of individuals are blamed for the obesity epidemic, but we know that people have not changed much over the last 20-30 years,” says Dr Sundborn, a research fellow at the University of Auckland. “What has changed, is our increasingly obesogenic environment.”

“Eliminating the availability of sugary drinks with initiatives such as this from the Auckland Council is an excellent way to meaningfully address obesity in our society,” he says.

“Sugary drinks have already been banned from our hospitals nationwide. We now need to strengthen the recommendation to get them out of schools – making it compulsory.”

Dr Sundborn says, “Auckland follows a number of progressive cities that have introduced policy restricting availability of sugary drinks including Boston, New York and Nelson here in New Zealand.
“It would be great to see other New Zealand cities adopt this type of initiative,” he says.
Dr Sundborn, is the founder of FIZZ NZ that opposes sugar sweetened beverages.

“The Auckland Council has been bold and shown healthy leadership by introducing a ban on sugary drinks in their vending machines,” he says. “We hope this will encourage similar action by other local councils across New Zealand.”

ENDS

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