Transcript
PAUL NAI: A lot of my family members are obese and have diabetes and other health issues, this was always a concern for me. So I took the topic and I did some research on it and I found Pacific Islanders are the highest consumers of sugar sweetened beverages in New Zealand. I also found they are the most likely to consume it and this is despite them being a minority in New Zealand.
DANIEALA MAOATE-COX: It's interesting that you're coming at it from a marketing perspective, most people would assume that this would come under health.
PN: The reason why we're taking a marketing perspective on it is because it's a consumption behaviour. Marketing and advertising and whatever, everything that comes under marketing does play a role in the consumption of SSBs by Pacific Islanders but really the research looks at a different factor, one that might be playing a bigger role and that's the Pacific culture.
DM-C: So you're talking about a lot special occasions where people will be drinking and eating where sugary drinks might be available, how many special occasions could you be attending in a year? What are the kinds of events you could be going to?
PC: Any events, it could be a wedding, it could be a birthday and even at funerals they come with big feasts, and it's expected that there will be a feast there so that is likely to contain sugary drinks as the dominant beverage for those practices and those feasts.
DM-C: You must have been to a lot of events yourself where you would have seen a couple of bottles there, how many are we talking here, is it bulk?
PN: Yeah that's the thing, our Pacific people are more likely to consume it not because they're buying it but because feast givers are buying it in bulk because that allows for more people to consume it and you see it like a general layout on the table you'll have three big bottles of juice there and you'll also have other fizzy drinks there so it's really excessive in terms of what is provided so there is a lot of it, more than what is necessary for pretty much human consumption, there's just too much of it available to our people.
DM-C: When it comes down to it, the negative consequences of this can be quite severe, what are some of the health implications that you know of?
PN: So the biggest contributor of sugary drinks is to obesity, you've also got things like weight gain, type 2 diabetes, gout, tooth decay and a lot of the youth are getting teeth pulled out, that's all from sweet products but mostly from sugary drinks.
DM-C: And it's important to note you're not blaming those special occasions as the cause of this problem you're just saying that there's been a bit of an influence along the line where the drinks that have been on offer have changed and they've become unhealthy.
PN: We've got to be careful how we do the research, we don't want to offend anyone, really it's about providing an understanding for why this might be happening and moving towards providing ways for how to prevent it and be more healthy.