Kia ora   

  

Thank you for your email to the Minister of Health and Minister for
Pacific Peoples, Hon Dr Shane Reti.    

  

We will endeavour to respond to your email as soon as possible. However,
due to the high volume of emails, we may not be able to provide you with
an individualised response. Please note:  

* If you are an Whangârei constituent contacting the Minister about an
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provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may include a
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If your email falls outside of the Minister's portfolio responsibilities,
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If your email relates to matters including:  

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[1][email address].  
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portfolio responsibilities of Hon David Seymour, Associate Minister of
Health. You can contact him by emailing
[3][email address].  

 

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Ngâ mihi

 

Office of Hon Dr Shane Reti 

Minister of Health 
 
Minister for Pacific Peoples 
Email: [email address] 

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand 

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Kia ora J,

 

Thank you for your request for official information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Office of Hon Dr Shane Reti. You
requested:

 

a) All memos, policy advice and information you have considered relating
to ultraprocessed food as a driver of physical and mental illness since
coming into office.

 

b) All plans by your office to investigate diets high in ultraprocessed
food as a predominant driver of mental and physical illness.

 

c) How funding will be prioritised to ensure that research including (i)
assessment of the current scientific literature on ultraprocessed food and
health/multimorbidity can be undertaken; and (ii)the extent of calorific
dependence on ultraprocessed in New Zealand by age and ethnic status, may
be undertaken.

 

d) Please supply the list of all meetings and names of groups and
individuals discussing diet and/or nutrition and/or ultraprocessed foods
since coming into office.

 

e) The Ministry of Health does not recognise metabolic syndrome, instead
considering: ‘The conditions referred to are considered either on their
own or as part of a broader cardiovascular disease risk calculation.’ As a
medical doctor and Minister of Health do you think this perspective
reflects the current state of scientific knowledge? Do you have plans to
address this quirky anomaly?

 

The reference number for your request is: SROIA-221

As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Office will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 20 working days after
the day your request was received. You can expect a response by 3
September 2024.

 

Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [1][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602. 

 

 

Ngā mihi

 

 

Office of Hon Dr Shane Reti

Minister of Health

Minister for Pacific Peoples
Email: [2][email address]

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: J Bruning <[FYI request #27934 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 1:53 PM
To: Shane Reti (MIN) <[email address]>
Subject: SROIA-221: Official Information request - Policy work relating to
ultraprocessed food as a driver of mental illness and chronic disease

 

Dear Dr Reti,

 

There is increasing evidence that ultraprocessed food may comprise up to
and beyond, 60% of the calorific diets in Australia, Canada, the USA and
New Zealand. As I have discussed:

 

'In the USA young people under age 19 consume on average 67% of their
diet, while adults consume around 60% of their diet in ultra-processed
food. Ultra-processed food contributes 60% of UK children’s calories; 42%
of Australian children’s calories and over half the dietary calories for
children and adolescents in Canada. In New Zealand in 2009-2010,
ultra-processed foods contributed to the 45% (12 months), 42% (24 months),
and 51% (60 months) of energy intake to the diets of children.'

[3]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brow...

 

What are they? Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Levy RB, et al. Ultra-processed
foods: what they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition.
2019;22(5):936-941. doi:10.1017/S1368980018003762

 

It is strange that ultraprocessed foods are never discussed or mentioned
by the Ministry of Health.
[4]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

 

There is strong evidence that diets high in ultraprocessed food are
associated with a diverse array of adverse health outcomes (Lane et al
2024):

 

Convincing evidence (class I) supported direct associations between
greater ultra-processed food exposure and higher risks of:

-  incident cardiovascular disease related mortality;

- type 2 diabetes;

- prevalent anxiety outcomes;

- combined common mental disorder outcomes.

 

Highly suggestive (class II) evidence indicated that greater exposure to
ultra-processed foods was directly associated higher risks of:

- incident all cause mortality;

- heart disease related mortality (hazard ratio 1.66, 1.51 to 1.84; low);

- type 2 diabetes;

- depressive outcomes;

- prevalent adverse sleep related outcomes;

- wheezing;

- obesity

 

Lane MM, Gamage E, Du S, Ashtree DN, McGuinness AJ, Gauci S, Baker P,
Lawrence M, Rebholz CM, Srour B, Touvier M, Jacka FN, O'Neil A, Segasby T,
Marx W. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes:
umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ. 2024 Feb
28;384:e077310. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-077310. PMID: 38418082; PMCID:
PMC10899807.

 

The 2024 Health Status Report does not mention ultraprocessed food, yet
mentions equity thirty times and inequity over 60 times. Processed meat is
noted as harmful.

[5]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

 

Professor Boyd Swinburn noted on X that you are yet to discuss prevention
of chronic illness as an intervention that would reduce pressure on
hospitals and medical clinics.

 

NZ fruit and veg prices are going up way faster than processed food.

[6]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://thec...

 

As I have discussed 'Official Information Act (OIA) requests confirm that
the Ministries’ Directors General who are responsible for setting policy
and long-term strategy aren’t considering these issues. The problem of
multimorbidity and the overlapping, entangled relationship with
ultra-processed food is outside of the scope of the work programme of the
top directorates in our health agency. '

 

As a series of OIA requests have identified, the Ministry of Health is not
considering ultraprocessed food as a driver of chronic illness, nor it is
factoring in the costs of multimorbidity. In New Zealand the costs of
multimorbidity is multiscalar, and it is more common to have multiple
illnesses than a single illness.

[7]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brow...

 

Appropriations for budget 2024/2025 Vote Health does not mention nutrition
or diet.

[8]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://budg...

 

$16 million in Vote Health has been set aside for 'This category is
limited to health science research, leadership, analysis and publishing
quality evidence, data and insights.'

 

To date the Ministry of Health groups (and Directorates) that access this
funding have not considered ultraprocessed food as a driver for
multifactorial disease, including the diseases which are growing in
prevalence.

(The terrible Health Status Report 2023 (February 2024) cannot give New
Zealanders up-to-date prevalence information. It gives New Zealanders
graphs instead of basic data. The 2019 Health and Independence report can
give Kiwis a better idea of changing patterns, but the data is still poor
due to ongoing gaps, because the research funding is not available.)

 

Appropriations for budget 2024/2025 Vote Business, Science and Innovation
does not mention nutrition or diet.

[9]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://budg...

 

-  just under $125 million for the Health Research Fund to achieve an
improvement in health and well‑being through health research

 

However, the Health Research Council's funding scope prioritises 'health
delivery'. Diet and nutrition are not mentioned nor prioritised in the
'health delivery'.

[10]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://hrc....

 

Funding priorities are based on The New Zealand Health Research
Prioritisation Framework. Every researcher understands that broad,
interdisciplinary enquiry/research falls outside these parameters as this
research is difficult to classify as 'excellent' and falls outside
'innovation' expectations. This may help explain why the Ministry of
Health is so poorly informed about ultraprocessed food and the harm to
physical and mental health.

 

OIA REQUEST

 

As Minister of Health, please provide:

 

a) All memos, policy advice and information you have considered relating
to ultraprocessed food as a driver of physical and mental illness since
coming into office.

 

b) All plans by your office to investigate diets high in ultraprocessed
food as a predominant driver of mental and physical illness.

 

c) How funding will be prioritised to ensure that research including (i)
assessment of the current scientific literature on ultraprocessed food and
health/multimorbidity can be undertaken; and (ii)the extent of calorific
dependence on ultraprocessed in New Zealand by age and ethnic status, may
be undertaken.

 

d) Please supply the list of all meetings and names of groups and
individuals discussing diet and/or nutrition and/or ultraprocessed foods
since coming into office.

 

e) The Ministry of Health does not recognise metabolic syndrome, instead
considering: ‘The conditions referred to are considered either on their
own or as part of a broader cardiovascular disease risk calculation.’ As a
medical doctor and Minister of Health do you think this perspective
reflects the current state of scientific knowledge? Do you have plans to
address this quirky anomaly?

 

Thank you.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

J Bruning

 

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This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[11][FYI request #27934 email]

 

Is [12][Shane Reti request email] the wrong address for Official Information
requests to Shane Reti? If so, please contact us using this form:

[13]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fyi....

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[14]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fyi....

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

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