28/07/2026
I snapped this photo at my local supermarket a few weeks ago whilst standing in the beverage aisle. Two stark realities immediately stood out to me:
1️⃣ We are only buying on deal as inflation is hurting people at the checkout, even on everyday staples where retail prices haven't moved much.
2️⃣ Looking at the shelf space, it raised an encouraging question: Are people actively moving away from liquid sugar? If so, that may be a massive win.
After spending 30+ years in the health and fitness sector as a coach and owning a few gyms along the way, I can’t help but see these supermarket shelves through a clinical and systemic lens. (Ayesha and my kids hate it when I do the shopping 🤭 ).
It prompted me to sit down and do a deep dive into the politics of sugar in Aotearoa, and why genuine preventive health is so strangely absent from our current national political debate.
It’s deeply troubling that a country blessed with agricultural abundance still ranks among the bottom three in the OECD for obesity. We are spending billions treating metabolic sickness after the fact, while the commercial entities behind liquid-sugar pay net zero to clean up the damage caused.
Note: we all acknowledge there are things that needed to be done in maintaining our healthcare infrastructure over the past few decades. But I think we also need to look at ways to treat some of our problems at the root cause – especially when it comes to the health of our children.
You could argue that people, even those at the lower income tiers of our communities, could be making better buying decisions. But you could also require more from the food and beverage industry based on what they have done in other countries.
It’s a long read, but getting these thoughts out of my head felt necessary. In the article, I break down:
1. The clinical reality inside our paediatric dental theatres
2. The $2B+ annual fiscal burden absorbed by NZ taxpayers
3. The "sweet disparity" between how multinational drink brands formulate their products in the UK vs. NZ
4. A practical, manufacturer-facing blueprint to fix it
Link to the article in the first comment -
