No breakfast for 1 in 3 Hawke's Bay teens

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-05-03 03:00

New Zealand

Hawke's Bay students have poor nutritional intake and high obesity levels, new research shows. The survey of more than 2,000 students aged either 9 or 13 found 87% aren't eating enough vegetables and 60% aren't getting enough fruit, according to national guidelines. Overall nearly half of the students experience overweight or obesity, and this rises to nearly two-thirds when only looking at low-decile schools. The results also showed 31% of 13-year-olds do not eat breakfast. The research was carried out during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the introduction of Ka Ora, Ka Ako - free healthy school lunches in less advantaged schools.

Media release

From:

Journal/
conference: Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand

Organisation/s: University of Auckland, Liggins Institute, Eastern Institute of Technology

Funder: This research was financially supported by the A Better Start National Science Challenge (BS), a University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship (PM) and Graduate Women New Zealand grant (PM) to the first author. Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland.

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