New Chair of FoodHQ 

Peter Landon-Lane has begun his term as Chair of Food HQ. He replaces Tom Richardson in the role.

Government Health Strategy released

The 2016 New Zealand Health Strategy refreshes the previous strategy, developed in 2000. It was developed with the help of sector leaders, independent reports, extensive public consultation, and was informed by other government programmes and initiatives.

The Strategy has two parts.

The New Zealand Health Strategy: Future direction outlines the high level direction for New Zealand’s health system over the 10 years from 2016 to 2026. It lays out some of the challenges and opportunities the system faces; describes the future we want, including the culture and values that will underpin this future; and identifies five strategic themes for the changes that will take us toward this future.

View Future Direction online.

The New Zealand Health Strategy: Roadmap of actions 2016, identifies 27 areas for action over five years to make the Strategy happen. The actions are organised under the five themes of the Strategy. This roadmap will be updated over the 10-year lifetime of the Strategy.

View the Roadmap of actions online.

Kiwi Mums confused about children’s dietary iron needs 

New research shows a disparity between how much dietary iron Kiwi mums believe their children need and what they are actually getting.

In a recent survey conducted by Nielsen, 61% of Kiwi mums believe their children get enough iron in their diet, with only 16% disagreeing.

However, research shows that in New Zealand, 80% of toddlers do not receive the recommended daily intake of iron, 14% of children under the age of two are iron deficient and over one third of teenage girls don’t achieve their daily iron requirements.

Dr Pamela Von Hurst from Massey University School of Food and Nutrition says children and adolescents have an increased risk of iron deficiency.

“Childhood is a crucial time for optimal development and iron deficiency at this life stage can have long term effects,” says Dr Von Hurst.

Encouragingly most of those surveyed could identify various side effects of iron deficiency, however, only 8% could correctly identifying all signs of iron deficiency in a child.

Not only an issue in New Zealand, iron deficiency is recognised by the World Health Organisation as the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world.

It is with this in mind, a New Zealand initiated campaign, World Iron Awareness Week is run to raise awareness of the prevalence, symptoms of iron deficiency and what can be done to increase levels.

Americans are nuts about almond milk

From IFT News

Almond milk is now America’s favorite milk substitute, boasting sales growth of 250% over the past five years, according to Nielsen. While almond milk still accounts for just a fraction of the total milk market (about 5%), it brings in more than twice the revenue of the other substitutes combined.

So why is almond milk growth soaring? The uptrend in sales is likely the result of current health and wellness trends. Results from Nielsen’s “2015 Global Health and Wellness” survey show that consumers rated back-to-basics food attributes like “all natural,” “no artificial colors or flavours,” and “made from vegetables or fruits” the most important.

Dietary restrictions may also be playing a part in the rise of almond milk, as it lacks the lactose of traditional milk and the hormones found in soy. In fact, products labeled hormone- or antibiotic-free have posted double-digit growth over the past four years. They also generated $11.4 billion in sales in 2015. In addition, products labeled as lactose-free saw sales of $8.7 billion and grew 8.6% in the last four years.

Despite the huge growth in almond milk sales between 2011 and 2014, the pace did slow a bit in 2015, suggesting a potential plateau on the horizon.