Ana Apatu: Fit, well fed kids get the best start

Ana Apatu.

Henare O'Keefe and I recently travelled to Christchurch to present to a 'Health in All Policies' conference, organised by the Canterbury Community and Public Health team.

We were asked to present from a community perspective, while most speakers come from a research, evidence-based and theoretical viewpoint.

We were asked to tell stories, make people laugh, sing. We did just that. We presented after keynote speaker Professor Peter Gluckman, who is known for his work regarding childhood obesity. His theory is based on the premise that by laying the foundation of healthy eating in the first few years of life we set the path for healthy weight in later or adult years.

'The Best Start to Life' starts with a healthy diet with mum during pregnancy, then breast feeding and then introduction of healthy solids at the recommended age (not before 6 months).

I acknowledged Sir Peter because his ministerial scientific recommendations have trickled right down to Flaxmere through a joint pilot with Hawke's Bay District, Plunket and U-Turn. These were very practical sessions with young Maori and Pacific mums learning how to mash vegetables for baby.

We know, from studies, that Maori and Pacific mums are far more likely to introduce solids to their infants before six months. They may be doing this because their babies are hungry, but it is not recommended because of the long-term affects for a growing child.

However, it was the sugary drinks and public policy presentation by Robbie Beaglehole, the Principal Dentist at Nelson Malborough District Health Board, that stirred Henare and me.

Robbie showed a photo of a young child with black, rotten teeth caused by mum feeding him Coke in his bottle.

Robbie said it cost $4000 for a general anaesthetic to extract these teeth for this child and this was only one of 242 children who went under a general anaesthetic in the Nelson/Marlborough health board area last year, at a cost of $1 million.

Robbie tells us he pulls about 40 rotten teeth per week. After one particularly hard morning session as he sat in the hospital cafeteria - with his hand bathing in ice water because of the strain - he glanced out the window to see a Coca-Cola truck pulling up to the hospital. Robbie has now become well known as an advocate for removing all sugary drinks from his own Nelson Malborough District Health Board hospital site. He has also asked Nelson City Council to implement a ban on sugary drinks at its events venues. The Nelson City Council adopted the ban in July 2014 which, apparently, has been well received by ratepayers.

We are told that sugar will become the next tobacco and that we consume far more than the recommended national guidelines.

This week, I also caught up with former All Blacks captain Taine Randell, a U-Turn Trustee and recent Crown appointed Hawke's Bay Limited Airport Board member. I read that Taine has several commercial directorships including Kahungunu Asset holding company, Fiordland Lobster company, and freeze dried snack food business Kiwi garden.

U-Turn Trust is involved with sports programmes, the boxing academy and MAC sports, particularly rugby. Kids in sport stay out of court.

Taine coaches junior rugby for MAC and his kids play for MAC junior. Taine laughs when he describes how, in the beginning, the MAC junior players first played in the old style baggy cotton rugby jerseys, but now they have (blue and white not red) jerseys and gear sponsored by Trust House, Unison and Endeavour.

This season there are enough children for one team in every grade. In the 5th grade, Taine says, there are enough for three teams. He claims this is unprecedented.

We have more kids playing sport. Taine tells me the numbers for Tamatea are also good. Taine discusses that what is really good is that all clubs, Hastings Havelock North, Tamatea, MAC and Flaxmere rugby clubs, have good numbers this season. I ask him why MAC and Flaxmere club couldn't merge but Taine feels that each club has a different culture, which should be embraced.

He believes this parochialism is really good for healthy competition between each club.

Because of the high level of participation this season, MAC needs more coaches. "Being a good coach is all about teaching children to enjoy their sport".

I ask Taine what his priority is now that his two boys play. "Jo and I would not miss watching our kids play sport for anything." I can always tape the All Blacks, he grins.

Ana Apatu is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust, based at Te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere