Tackling obesity and diabetes in New Zealand

Thursday 7 June 2012

Media Release

Tackling obesity and diabetes in New Zealand

The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) has announced $65.2M of government research funding investment into issues that impact most heavily on the health of New Zealanders.

Becoming overweight is one of the biggest threats to health in the 21st century in many countries including New Zealand. Societal changes have led to increased sedentary behavior, which in turn increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and other negative health outcomes. The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) has funded several new research projects to explore innovative, sustainable solutions to increase levels of physical activity and promote healthy body weight, in cohorts of infants, adolescents, and adults in the workplace. An additional project will generate the world’s largest single cohort study to examine how abnormal blood glucose levels can be used to predict the risk of, and prevent, heart attacks and strokes in people with diabetes.

A staggering 30 per cent of children in New Zealand are already overweight or obese at 2-4 years of age. The Prevention of Overweight in Infancy (POI) study was funded by the HRC in 2008 to find out whether extra information and support for families with new babies can improve eating and activity, encourage better sleep for babies and parents, and reduce the rate of excessive weight gain during infancy. The HRC in 2012 has funded two additional projects that will allow researchers from the University of Otago to extend findings from the initial 4-arm randomised controlled trial. One project, led by Associate Professor Rachael Taylor from the University of Otago, Dunedin, will follow-up to five years of age in an anticipated 600 of the original 805 families to determine the sustainability and long-term consequences of this approach. If successful and cost-effective, POI strategies are designed to be incorporated into New Zealand’s Well Child Health services to make a significant impact on the weight and long-term health of New Zealand children.

A second project, led by Professor Barry Taylor, also from the University of Otago, Dunedin, will explore whether or not the POI interventions in the first two years of life alter the development of self-regulation – the ability to delay gratification and control impulses - which is critical in setting an individual’s life trajectory, and enabling them, as an adult, to achieve their full potential and best contribution as a member of society.

Professor Grant Schofield from AUT University will lead the New Zealand arm of an international collaboration across ten countries to characterise the effect that the built urban environment has on physical activity and health in adolescents. Adolescence is a time when physical activity levels typically decreases by 60 – 70 per cent. Physical activity is essential for human health, yet technological and environmental changes that promote sitting, passive travel, and reduced incidental physical activity accumulation have become more prevalent in society over the last 50 years. New Zealand studies have demonstrated how urban environments may affect physical activity in adults, but the effect on adolescents is not clear. The study will measure the links of neighbourhood-level urban form features with physical activity, sedentary behaviour, body size and community connectedness in 1,600 New Zealand adolescents (12-18 years). Findings will inform national and international town planning, policy change, and redesign of existing urban environments to maximise physical activity and community connectedness, and minimise sedentary behaviour and body size, all key determinants of human health.

Dr Louise Foley from The University of Auckland has been awarded an HRC Emerging Researcher First Grant to understand the ‘activity profile’ of New Zealand adults in the workplace. She will develop new technologies to monitor the amount of time spent sitting and doing physical activity, and incorporate these into an automated intervention which will provide feedback appropriate to an individual's activity profile via mobile phone and email. The intervention will be pilot tested to give a preliminary indication of the effects on health outcomes. Improving both sitting and physical activity behaviours simultaneously could potentially have greater positive impact on health than targeting either behaviour in isolation.

Diabetes and dysglycaemia (abnormal blood glucose levels) are significant and increasing problems in New Zealand, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), particularly heart attacks and strokes, are common preventable causes of death and hospitalisation in people with diabetes. Dr Patricia Metcalf and colleagues from The University of Auckland will combine several existing large datasets to investigate which measures of glycaemia are most strongly related to CVD risk in different New Zealand populations. The results will inform the development of predictive models for targeting CVD risk management in diabetes, and help maximise the cost effectiveness of services to prevent and target treatment for CVD risk in people with diabetes and dysglycaemia in New Zealand.

-Ends-

2012 HRC annual funding round results
The HRC processed 180 full applications for four different types of awards and will offer 51 contracts to the successful applicants. Project proposals were processed through a two-stage process beginning with 378 Expressions of Interest leading to 97 full applications assessed in the second stage. Successful applications were chosen by an assessment process involving national and international expert referees, detailed discussion by Science Assessing Committees, and further review by the Grant Approval Committee before final approval by the HRC Board. The total value of new research to be undertaken within universities, research institutes and District Health Boards is $65.2 million (excluding GST). For detailed results, please visit the HRC website, www.hrc.govt.nz.

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