Recent Posts

• Lessons from the sacred cow

  By Paul Hemsley on April 16, 2014 • ( 0 )

  

  Some cows are so sacred that they can get away with almost anything.   One of these is raw milk.  As someone who’s consulted to various branches of the food industry for around 30 years, you could imagine my surprise to… Read More ›

• Does commercial success by food companies equal public health failure?

  By Donnell Alexander on March 6, 2014 • ( 2 )

  

  Many public health advocates believe this about successful food companies: Food companies exist solely to make money, so they will sell whatever people will buy. Healthy food provides smaller margins, so they fill their food with cheap processed ingredients that… Read More ›

• Where has all the common sense gone?

  By Donnell Alexander on May 7, 2013

  

  Fad diets.  They’ve always been a bugbear to dietitians and nutritionists.  Generally they’re written by people with no formal nutrition expertise or understanding of scientific evidence, but rather astute business people who know that silver bullet promises can earn them… Read More ›

• Let’s not get over excited about ‘made from local and imported ingredients’

  By Paul Hemsley on April 5, 2013

  

  Campbell Live built its recent story on locally made versus imported food products on the premise that New Zealand is “a huge food-producing nation”. It’s true that our dairy, meat and horticulture sectors are significant exporters, but when it comes… Read More ›

• Who’s to blame? Time to try something different

  By Donnell Alexander on March 4, 2013

  

  We all know about the world’s obesity epidemic and the serious health consequences ahead of us.  But we seem to be stuck in a blame game, rather than really committing to effective, collaborative solutions. Week after week books are published… Read More ›

• Food Addiction

  By Donnell Alexander on September 21, 2012

  

  Are we using the term “addiction” too freely these days?  Headlines portray a range of human weaknesses from social media “addiction” to shoe shopping “addiction”.  We’ve long known about the serious nature of alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addictions, and the… Read More ›

• Canned foods get a thumbs-up for sound nutrition and affordability

  By Paul Hemsley on June 13, 2012 • ( 2 )

  

  Image thanks to FreeDigitalPhotos.net The universal call to increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables, higher fibre foods and seafood, coupled with tightening family budgets, means that a study published recently in the Journal for Nutrition and Food Sciences is highly… Read More ›

• Sugar – since when did the facts get in the way of a good story?

  By Donnell Alexander on June 11, 2012 • ( 4 )

  

  Last night’s Sunday programme on sugary soft drinks (TVNZ 10 June, 7pm) promised yet another “expose” of the type our current affairs love to hype up to get our eyeballs and ears on their screens at the right time.  Previous… Read More ›

• Blind men and an elephant

  By Donnell Alexander on March 15, 2012 • ( 1 )

  

  There’s an old Indian tale about giving a group of blind men an elephant to describe through feel.  As each of them is feeling different parts of the elephant, they end up squabbling as none can agree on how to… Read More ›

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