The consumption of fruit and vegetables has been shown by nutritionists to have preventative effects with regard to cardiovascular disease and cancer, and recent health promotions in New Zealand have emphasised the need to eat`5+' a day. This paper examines interaction between 20 New Zealand teenagers and the parent responsible for food purchasing to identify factors affecting teenagers' consumption of and attitudes towards fruit and vegetables, both at home and as snacks away from home. Although the teenagers believed fruit and vegetables were`good for you', consumption was affected by the teenagers' perceptions of the desirability of different foods, and the degree of independence or parental control in different eating situations. Possible health promotion and marketing strategies are suggested.

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Lost productivity accounts for a significant proportion of the total cost of alcohol. This study quantifies the costs associated with alcohol consumption using survey data collected from four alcohol surveys conducted in Auckland between November 1990 to May 1992. The total sample size was 4662, of which 2638 were drinkers in paid employment. A computer-assisted telephone interviewing system was used to interview a random sample that closely matched the Auckland population. Respondents gave information about their typical alcohol consumption and frequency of absences from paid employment which were a result of their drinking. They also gave a report of the number of times in the past 12 months when they felt their work had been impaired as a result of their drinking. The cost of absenteeism was recorded as the number of times a respondent reported time away from work multiplied by gross income. Estimates of reduced work efficiency were derived from US figures, which estimated a 25% reduction in work performance among heavy alcohol users; 3.7% of the sample reported alcohol-related absences and 12% reported reduced efficiency days. There was a significant difference in both the number and cost of absentee and reduced efficiency days reported between the top 10% and the bottom 10% drinkers. A conservative estimate of alcohol-related lost productivity among the working population of New Zealand (with a population of 3.4 million and a per capita absolute alcohol consumption of 9.7 litres) was found to be $57 million per year.

A survey has been carried out of the habits of people living within 3 km of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant. The survey included estimates of consumption rates of foodstuffs for a range of ages and of time spent indoors, outdoors and away from home. A high proportion of those interviewed were farmers and they provided additional data on time spent in the various farming activities. A comparison of the food consumption rates and generalised values recommended for critical groups by the NRPB and MAFF.