Hospitals to boot out sugary drinks

BYE SUGAR: Nurse specialist Oringa Barach and diabetes service doctor Nicole McGrath are happy the Northland DHB is removing all sugar-sweetened beverages from DHB sites from October. PHOTO/ MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

A spoonful of sugar does not help the medicine go down, according to the Northland District Health Board's new drinks policy.

This month the DHB approved a policy to remove all sugar-sweetened beverages from hospital cafeterias and vending machines as of October.

Northland DHB diabetes dietician Virjean Primeau has welcomed the change and said it's time the Northland DHB practises what it preaches by not selling sugary drinks on-site.

"From my perspective, eliminating sugary drinks is a real positive step in the right direction. People need to drink more water and milk. We're rapt and I'm sure the dental health team is going to be as well," Ms Primeau said.

The policy has been in the pipeline a long time, she said. "It existed when I started here eight years ago but nothing was ever done. It's extremely satisfying to see it finally coming to fruition."

NDHB Diabetes Services clinical nurse manager Amy Savage said the removal of sugary drinks is important in terms of tackling Type 2 diabetes prevention, as well as obesity prevention, tooth decay and general health.

"There are more than 9000 people with diabetes in Northland - that's six per cent of the total population and it's estimated to increase by 72 per cent between 2009 and 2026."

The discussion started when figures were released in May following a study by international researchers led by the University of Washington, which shows between 1980 and 2013, New Zealand men got fatter faster than males in any other country.

The study also found the adult overweight and obesity rate in New Zealand jumped from 50 per cent to 66 per cent in the last 33 years, while the rate of overweight and obese children has risen from 18 per cent to 29 per cent.

New Zealand has an estimated 2.2 million overweight adults and 960,000 of them are obese.

District health boards and hospitals are role models for the community when it comes to healthy food policies and practices, said NDHB chief executive Dr Nick Chamberlain.

"A lot of work has been going on within the Healthy Lifestyles team of Public Health, along with colleagues in the hospital around fizzy free drinks and healthy food as we are conscious that, as a district health board, we need to show leadership in this regards," he said.

"As a result the board requested that the Healthy Food Policy be extended to sugar-sweetened beverages being removed from hospital cafeterias and vending machines."