Nigel Latta 6 - Is Sugar the New Fat? (Episode Six)

What's becoming really clear to me as I'm wandering around and looking at all the stuff that I would normally buy...it's not so much that sugar's hidden, but it's kind of hidden in plain sight because it's in almost everything.

– Presenter Nigel Latta visits a supermarket, early in this episode

When I'm making a television series, I don't think about the tone...the stories tell themselves. The idea for the latest series arose because these were particular issues which wound me up. I wanted to fight through all the numbers and the bollocks and everything else.

– Nigel Latta on the genesis of this series, TV Guide, 28 July 2014

Well I've got your results, Nigel...I actually, I don't think you're going to like what I've got to say...

– Nutritionist Mikki Williden breaks some bad news to Nigel Latta after his blood test

...there's a very clear link between sugar consumption and carbohydrate consumption, and diabetes at a population level.

– Middlemore Hospital doctor Brandon Orr-Walker on the harmful effects of excess sugar and refined carbs in diets

I think Robert Lustig exaggerates the role of sugar. I think a lot of his comments are melodramatic. Some of his comments have been called hysterical...

– Katherine Rich from the NZ Food and Grocery Council defends the food industry against claims that sugar is toxic

People think I'm great, until I say something they disagree with.

– Psychologist and TV presenter Nigel Latta on how he is received after his documentaries screen, TV Guide, 28 July 2014

I don't drink. I've never been drunk. I don't smoke. I have never done drugs or anything like that, and I think I'm allowed to have one thing that I'm kind of hopelessly addicted to, I guess...and sugar's it for me.

– Angela on her love of sweets and treats being one allowable vice

What really smacks you in the face about all of that is that you've got a whole operating theatre full of really qualified people — that's about five grand's worth of theatre time — let alone the fact we could be doing other stuff with it, to pull teeth out of two-year-olds and three-year-olds, because they're drinking too many sugary soft drinks. It's utterly preventable and it's utterly wrong.

– Nigel Latta is rocked by the sight of Kiwi pre-schoolers needing teeth extractions because of soft drink consumption

As a parent this is excruciating to watch.

– Nigel Latta watches as a two-year-old has multiple rotten teeth extracted

We've used our children to be the educators of their parents basically. And it's really lovely when parents come in and tell us funny stories of when they've been to the supermarket, shopping with their five-year-olds, who will say 'no, we can't have that, we want to have healthy food, and this is the reason why'.

– Principal Susan Dunlop, principal of Yendarra School in South Auckland, on banning soft drinks and promoting healthy foods, near the end of this episode

Ultimately the food industry doesn't care what they sell you, as long as they sell you — as long as their profits are untouched. They'll sell you anything you want. And I'm not against the food industry making money; I am against the food industry making money by selling things that hurt people.

– American endocrinologist Robert Lustig, near the end of this episode

Media coverage for this series has been disappointing though, given the scale of the issues Latta tackled, and their impacts on the country in the past, present, and future. The online community has been especially vocal on this website, with over 460 comments on my previous episode articles ... Let's hope that future television series of this nature garner more support, because in my opinion, the more of these series we see, the better.

– Jimmy Ryan writes about this series, Stuff, 3 September 2014

Nigel Latta’s show on sugar last night was one of the best of his series. The shows wrap-up made for one of TV’s most powerful moments for the year. The show simply and fairly illustrated the impact that excess sugar is having on our health.

– Geoff Simmons, then economist and general manager at the (Gareth) Morgan Foundation, Morgan Foundation website, 2 September 2014