Cliona Ni Mhurchu
Professor Cliona Ni Mhurchu leads a programme of population nutrition research at the National Institute for Health Innovation. Her current research focuses on effects of population-level nutrition interventions and policies, such as food subsidies/taxes, front-of-pack nutrition labels, and healthier product reformulation. She has led a number of large studies including the SHOP trial, which evaluated the effects of price discounts and tailored nutrition advice on supermarket food purchases, and SPEND which estimated the impact of food taxes and subsidies on mortality from non-communicable disease in New Zealand. Cliona has published more than 115 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and is Director of the HRC research programme, "Dietary Interventions: Evidence & Translation” (DIET).
The NZ Food Environment - The Big Picture Main Session  Friday, 13 June 2014 Start 8:50am Duration: 20mins Baytrust Food environments have considerable impact on our nutrition. In New Zealand, the current food environment is largely dominated by energy-dense, nutrient-poor processed foods that are widely available, relatively inexpensive and heavily promoted. This food environment promotes unhealthy diets, energy overconsumption and unhealthy weight gain. In order to reduce our high rates of obesity and nutrition-related disease, we need to create a healthier food environment. Specific drivers of food purchases and diets are price, marketing, processed food composition, and nutrition labelling. This presentation provides a brief overview of these features of the New Zealand food environment and summarises evidence for actions that could improve our food environment and diets. Obesity - Working Together to Achieve Better Outcomes Concurrent Workshop Repeated Saturday, 14 June 2014 Start 11:00am Duration: 55mins Room 4 Start 12:05pm Duration: 55mins Room 4 Join us for a workshop that provides tools to move your patients beyond the usual diet messages. Professor Cliona Ni Mhurchu will discuss her research on how food marketing, pricing, labelling and the meal environment affects our food choices. MaryRose Spence, Dietitian, will then target this research to your weight loss patients. We’ll send you away with simple, practical lifestyle tips – small consistent changes for better weight loss outcomes.