Waikato University scientist, Dr Pawel Olszewski suggests sugar and fat may produce changes in the brain which resemble the effects of addictive drugs. This may have a profound impact on the way governments, health practitioners and communities plan to combat the impact of the growing incidence of obesity.

We must be careful, though, not to directly equate sugar and fat, which our bodies need, to nicotine, alcohol, THC, amphetamines etc which we can quite happily do without:

Dr Olszewski says that while the brain responds to tasty foods in ways that have a lot in common with its reaction to drugs, he stresses there is a clear distinction between the complex mix of substances found in foods and a single compound such as morphine or nicotine. For this reason he describes over-eating patterns as “addictive-like”.

“We don’t want to send the message that if you’re eating a sandwich, that you’re consuming a drug. However palatable, high-sugar foods very often increase activity of the same brain circuits that are involved in the creation of the addictive state.

“So we believe this addictive-like behaviour stems from the effect that nutrients, in particular sugar and to some extent fat, have on the same set of brain areas that drive addiction.”

Immediately one can see the absolute pointlessness of a sugar tax. Potatoes, white bread, rice and pasta become sugar in the body as fast as pure cane sugar and nearly as fast as glucose powder. Taxing sugar is like sticking your finger in the dyke when the tsunami alarm has just gone off. And taxing carbohydrates in general is just adding a tax to nearly all food.

all that causes obesity is taking in more calories than you burn up.

Add to the mix research released from Ohio State University this week that shows the attachment between mothers and toddlers is linked with incidence of obesity and you quickly get the picture that obesity is not straight forward and solutions will be neither singular nor simple.

Obesity is a significant driver of the increasing cost of healthcare and therefore cannot be ignored. Developing prevention and treatment strategies is the responsibility of governments as much as it is the responsibility of parents, communities and individuals.

To help refresh memories, here is exactly what John Key said on GST before the last election. Personally I don’t think there is any room for nuance here. He said he would not increase it, and he did.

According to Statistics New Zealand, food prices rose up 1.4 per cent in June over May, and annually, food prices are up 7.5 per cent on a year earlier.

Fruit and vegetables have been hardest hit in June, rising 12.2 per cent. Tomatoes were up a staggering 56.9 per cent over their price in May, with lettuce and capsicum also up over 40 per cent on the previous month.

Labour promised to take GST off fruit and vegetables. If this policy were introduced the price of fresh fruit and vegetables would fall dramatically. Not only would Kiwi families have a cheaper grocery bill, but they would also have a healthier lifestyle.

It seems that hard-working kiwi families are being hit everywhere. GST rises, working for families’ cuts, kiwi saver cuts and arbitrary employment laws (90 day fire-at-will) mean that Kiwis are on tenterhooks as the costs mount during winter, a time when doctor visits are essential and power bills naturally increase.

When will the National Government give hard-working Kiwi’s a break?

It’s a very good example of the need to consider the long term effects of government policy. Yes, we all understand that putting GST up without proper compensation for people on middle and low incomes is making life harder for kiwi families right now, but the long term effects are much more concerning.

National’s policies have not only increased inequalities, they are creating a problem for future governments by failing to keep people well and increasing future demand on all health services including mental health.

It might not be of much concern to John Key and co because it won’t be their problem. But someone will have to deal with it and we’d all be a lot better off (financially and socially) if we prevented the problem when we can see it coming rather than waiting for someone else to clean up the mess.

only 12% felt they were any better off, 38% worse off and 33% unchanged. Some readers said John Key has lost their vote over the GST increase.

And just to show how out of touch those on big incomes are with reality, a partner of Deloitte Hamilton says people just had to “reprioritise.”

“You can choose whether or not to spend money and therefore pay tax,” he said.

Really? Choose not to buy groceries, pay the power bill, pay for petrol, pay the rent? This man has no idea that low and middle-income families spend all they earn on just getting by.

His out-of-touch comments reflect arrogant National Party thinking. Guess he must be in the 12% laughing at the expense of the other 88%.

The NZ Herald had a feature story on this yesterday as well, and the experience of the family who have had the benefit of tax cuts wiped out by the government’s funding cut to early childhood education is another commonly raised issue.

The Sunday Star Times story today, though, makes clear the real problem with the tax switch

The real winners from the cuts are people earning more than $70,000 a year. Anyone earning $100,000, for instance, can expect nearly $70 more in their pay, making them $42 better off after paying that extra GST. For low income earners, the impact is marginal. Someone on $20,000 will be nearly $3 better off, while someone on $30,000 will be $6 richer.

No wonder John Key has instructed his MPs to try to sell the tax switch. The problem is people know their own budgets and costs, and no amount of spin will change that.

Well watch the video for yourself. Again.

Did he say “National is not going to be increasing raising GST” or did he say “I have no intention of raising GST”?

I thought I would share this response to some questions we have asked in the community with Red Alert readers.

The loose translation of the Chinese text is:

Dear MP Huo, Thank you for your Labour Party who always speaks on behalf of ordinary kiwis, particularly at a time when the cost of living is increasing dramatically, well done, we support you. (name and address withheld)

This constituent echoes the thoughts and feelings of many families across the country.

It is concerning for everyone in the community that prices are rising faster than wages, and with an increase in GST coming into effect shortly, this situation is only going to get worse.

With inflation expected to hit 5.9 percent next year, it seems there is no let up for hard working kiwis either.

Any tax cuts should make it easier for more kiwis to get ahead. However, National’s tax plan gives most of the tax cuts to the privileged few. But, 70 percent of salary and wage-earners are on $40k or less, with 800,000 kiwi families with a combined household income of $60k or less.

Under National, transport prices rose 3.1 percent with higher prices for International air transport and vehicle licensing fees.

Cost of food is increasing with a recent OECD study finding that New Zealand food prices over the last 10 years rose higher than almost any other of the 30 OECD countries studies, at 42% compared to the OECD average of 33%.

Under National’s ETS, families pay twice – once as consumers and once as tax-payers ($110 billion over the next 2-3 decades) while polluters get an easy ride.