NUTRITIONIST WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD

The New Zealand Nutrition Foundation and Kellogg New Zealand have announced Helen Eyles as winner of the 2010 Nutritionist Development Award.

Eyles is a research fellow working in the Nutrition & Physical Activity programme at the Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Auckland.  She won the award for her contribution to improving eating habits and preventing obesity, while also trying to address nutritional inequalities.  Helen’s PhD formed part of the Supermarket Healthy Options Trial (SHOP), in which researchers gave tailored nutrition advice coupled with price discounts on healthier foods.  The trial is the first of its kind worldwide supporting a GST-type reduction on selected supermarket foods. 

Eyles plans to use the Nutritionist Development Award to attend a top nutrition conference in Melbourne next year, as well as visiting research associates in Australia to promote closer collaboration on reducing salt in the New Zealand diet. She says, “I am honoured to be the recipient of the 2010 Nutritionist Development Award.  This award provides me with international opportunities which will be pivotal in my career.  I hope to take the newly acquired knowledge, skills, and collaborations achieved through this award and translate them (through my role as a Public Health Nutritionist) into opportunities to improve New Zealand’s nutritional health”

Sue Pollard, CEO of the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation says the Foundation is thrilled to award such a deserving and dedicated nutritionist.  “Helen is an asset to promoting health in New Zealand.  This award is a stepping stone towards contributing to further ground-breaking New Zealand research. Her desire to use her nutrition knowledge to influence public health policy is what stood out to the panel of judges,” Pollard commented.

Julian Ng, Marketing & Innovation Manager, Kellogg New Zealand says this award helps to recognise and support the outstanding local talent starting out on their career in nutrition. “Helen is clearly a talented and dedicated nutritionist. Kellogg’s is delighted to be supporting her proposed international collaborations and innovative approaches to impact the general well-being of New Zealanders,” says Ng.

Kellogg’s has been a long term supporter of the Nutritionist Development Award, which was first established in 1995 to promote professional development for newlyqualified New Zealand nutritionists and as an investment in the longterm improvement of nutritional status amongst New Zealanders.  Past winners have gone on to work in such diverse areas as public health consultancy, the food industry and academic research. Their initiatives include the free fruit to primary schools pilot study, obesity prevention programmes and research studies into topics such as cardiovascular disease, Type 2 Diabetes and the breakfast habits of adolescents.

ENDS

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