Continuing the conversation about health literacy
Children are attracted to colourful drinks at their sports events. To know what these sports drinks contain, parents and coaches need good eyesight to read the small font on the label. And they need good health literacy to understand the many words for sugar and to use the information for healthy choices.
Moira Smith, Dentist and Lead Researcher in an Otago University study of children aged 10–12 years, found that children associate the sugar-sweetened and caffeinated drinks with sport and with our sports stars. Clever marketing indeed. The characteristics of the drinks — the colour, the taste, the image — are attractive, so they make it difficult for children to follow nutrition guidelines. The drinks are associated with poor health outcomes such as obesity and dental decay.
Clever marketing of food and drink at sports events is tough for parents. They need to be smart about what children perceive as ‘good for them’ — our elite sports people drink them, don’t they? Reading the label’s only the beginning. Applying what they know about sugar and caffeine to actions that promote healthy choices for their family is the hard bit. Moira Smith’s study found that New Zealand needs ‘improved public health mechanisms to support healthy beverage choices’.
Read more about this New Zealand study in Appetite journal, Vol 81, 1 October 2014, pp 209-217
Or read local reports of the study here:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/251764/sport-energy-drinks-hurting-kids
http://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago076680.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11306299
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
26 September 2014
31 January 2014
Write's top five blogs for 2013
Which of our blog posts did you click most last year? We blog about all
kinds of topics. The value of clear writing — financially and philosophically.
Grammar — everyone wants to know about the debates and the options. Financial
literacy. Language usability. Books from our shelves. Our own pet peeves.
Here’s the 2013 hit parade — the top five posts from our blog Write Clearly.
1. Think like a Tui ad!
Yeah, right. No, really! Tui ads are short, succinct, and perfectly pitched to their audience, says Lynda Harris. But what’s special about the one that she posted on Tui’s DIY billboard at their factory?
Read how to think like a Tui ad
2. Do you take your lists with or without semicolons?
Anne-Marie Chisnall describes the science behind readability and visual clutter.
Read more about more readability and visual clutter
3. A conversation about health literacy
In our 'Conversations' blog series, Rosie Knight talks to health providers about the techniques they use to make sure that communication with their patients works well both ways. She also delves into why health literacy improves patient outcomes, and saves health dollars. In this conversation Rosie talks to Lorna Bingham, Diabetes Nurse Specialist.
Read Rosie's conversation with Lorna Bingham
4. Poor writing is not sustainable
Too many New Zealand businesses don't realise the huge impact that unsustainable business practices are having on their bottom line. Diana Burns quotes sustainability consultant Annette Lusk. And Diana writes that sustainable writing has a huge impact on profits.
Read more about making business writing sustainable
5. Taking issue with issues (and other such euphemisms)
Diana Burns finds a kindred spirit in columnist Joe Bennett, with his attack on the word ‘provider’ (as in internet provider, education provider, and health provider). She reveals a trick we use at Write for generating ‘noun strings’, and why they are terrible things.
Read more about taking issue with issues
Click to tweet: Write’s top five blogs for 2013
Here’s the 2013 hit parade — the top five posts from our blog Write Clearly.
1. Think like a Tui ad!
Yeah, right. No, really! Tui ads are short, succinct, and perfectly pitched to their audience, says Lynda Harris. But what’s special about the one that she posted on Tui’s DIY billboard at their factory?
Read how to think like a Tui ad
2. Do you take your lists with or without semicolons?
Anne-Marie Chisnall describes the science behind readability and visual clutter.
Read more about more readability and visual clutter
3. A conversation about health literacy
In our 'Conversations' blog series, Rosie Knight talks to health providers about the techniques they use to make sure that communication with their patients works well both ways. She also delves into why health literacy improves patient outcomes, and saves health dollars. In this conversation Rosie talks to Lorna Bingham, Diabetes Nurse Specialist.
Read Rosie's conversation with Lorna Bingham
4. Poor writing is not sustainable
Too many New Zealand businesses don't realise the huge impact that unsustainable business practices are having on their bottom line. Diana Burns quotes sustainability consultant Annette Lusk. And Diana writes that sustainable writing has a huge impact on profits.
Read more about making business writing sustainable
5. Taking issue with issues (and other such euphemisms)
Diana Burns finds a kindred spirit in columnist Joe Bennett, with his attack on the word ‘provider’ (as in internet provider, education provider, and health provider). She reveals a trick we use at Write for generating ‘noun strings’, and why they are terrible things.
Read more about taking issue with issues
Click to tweet: Write’s top five blogs for 2013
30 January 2014
Link teeth with our health
I had a conversation about health literacy with Dr Moira Smith. Moira is a research fellow and PhD candidate in public health at the University of Otago in Wellington (UOW) and Deputy Director of the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit at UOW.
The link between the health of our teeth and the health of our bodies
Moira is a dentist who knows that our teeth and gums mirror the health of our bodies. With 20 years’ experience in clinical practice, and her public health hat on, Moira promotes a ‘life course approach’ to dental care. That is, we teach children how to look after their teeth, make healthy and informed choices about what we eat and drink, and see the dentist once a year as a normal part of our healthcare — for life.
In the past, we didn’t connect the health of our teeth with the health of our bodies. Now we’re learning that our oral health in childhood is our oral health for life. Looking after our teeth and gums is an investment with good returns. It’s cheaper for individuals and for New Zealand than getting our teeth filled. And it’s cheaper than treating whole body diseases like obesity and cardiovascular disease. Researchers say that the bacteria that cause plaque on our teeth are the same family as the bacteria that cause plaque in our blood vessels.
Families need good health literacy to make good choices about food and drink
Health literacy is the knowledge we use about our health and our environment to make decisions about how we live.
The choices families make about their food and drinks, and how those products are promoted through sport, are among Moira’s special interests in public health. She says ‘The health literacy of families is an important component in their choices about what to eat and drink.’ However, she is concerned for the public’s health, and for children’s health in particular, when the voice of a brand, fuelled by advertising and marketing, is bigger than a family’s health literacy voice.
Our food environments are society’s environments
Our ‘food environment’ is not just one thing. It’s a complex web of interactions. Politics and people’s behaviour play a part. Current government thinking is to provide more education about nutrition, then allow personal choice and an individual approach.
But the commercial environment doesn’t make it easy for people to take an individual approach. As a society, we still have a lot to learn about making healthy choices. Reading food labels for example, requires a high level of health literacy — and good eyesight to read the print. So here’s the gap. We need more than good health literacy to make decisions about what our bodies and our children need. We also need critical thinking and good media literacy, so that we can be discerning about the marketing and promotion of food and drinks.
Here are some of the factors that get in the way of families making healthy choices.
Read the Ministry of Health’s health and nutrition guidelines for young people.
Click to tweet: Link teeth with our health
The link between the health of our teeth and the health of our bodies
Moira is a dentist who knows that our teeth and gums mirror the health of our bodies. With 20 years’ experience in clinical practice, and her public health hat on, Moira promotes a ‘life course approach’ to dental care. That is, we teach children how to look after their teeth, make healthy and informed choices about what we eat and drink, and see the dentist once a year as a normal part of our healthcare — for life.
In the past, we didn’t connect the health of our teeth with the health of our bodies. Now we’re learning that our oral health in childhood is our oral health for life. Looking after our teeth and gums is an investment with good returns. It’s cheaper for individuals and for New Zealand than getting our teeth filled. And it’s cheaper than treating whole body diseases like obesity and cardiovascular disease. Researchers say that the bacteria that cause plaque on our teeth are the same family as the bacteria that cause plaque in our blood vessels.
Families need good health literacy to make good choices about food and drink
Health literacy is the knowledge we use about our health and our environment to make decisions about how we live.
The choices families make about their food and drinks, and how those products are promoted through sport, are among Moira’s special interests in public health. She says ‘The health literacy of families is an important component in their choices about what to eat and drink.’ However, she is concerned for the public’s health, and for children’s health in particular, when the voice of a brand, fuelled by advertising and marketing, is bigger than a family’s health literacy voice.
Our food environments are society’s environments
Our ‘food environment’ is not just one thing. It’s a complex web of interactions. Politics and people’s behaviour play a part. Current government thinking is to provide more education about nutrition, then allow personal choice and an individual approach.
But the commercial environment doesn’t make it easy for people to take an individual approach. As a society, we still have a lot to learn about making healthy choices. Reading food labels for example, requires a high level of health literacy — and good eyesight to read the print. So here’s the gap. We need more than good health literacy to make decisions about what our bodies and our children need. We also need critical thinking and good media literacy, so that we can be discerning about the marketing and promotion of food and drinks.
Here are some of the factors that get in the way of families making healthy choices.
- Some regulations guide how manufacturers promote food, but the current regulations don’t make it easy for families to make healthy choices.
- Nutrition information on food labels is often hard to read because of the font size and colour.
- We’re trusting — ‘Food is on the supermarket shelf; therefore it must be OK’.
Read the Ministry of Health’s health and nutrition guidelines for young people.
Click to tweet: Link teeth with our health
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