A nutrition expert is calling for Kiwis to change their diets after research found dietary factors are most to blame for an increase in type 2 diabetes.
A new study released on Tuesday morning shows the clear majority of new type 2 diabetes cases - 7 out of 10 - can be blamed on poor diets.
But buying healthy food is easier said than done after it was revealed on Monday that there was a 12.1 percent increase in the latest food price index, largely fed by grocery prices.
The scientific director of the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation and AUT Professor Emeritus Elaine Rush told AM on Tuesday the results of the study don't surprise her as there has been an "epidemic" of diabetes that has been building up since the 1980s.
She is calling for a complete overhaul of the way Kiwis eat to tackle the growing problem.
"I think we have the problem of being the successful recipients of good marketing and also not having enough money to buy better food or having it easily available within close proximity," Rush told AM co-host Ryan Bridge.
"So it's a wicked problem that has many factors driving it, but we do need a complete rethink of our food system and start to feed our own population better. Everyone needs to play a part in that."
She believes large-scale Government action will be the only fix and if implemented, the long wait times at healthcare centres around the country could be reduced.
"It would be [massive] in the long term, but it won't be in three years or ten years or even a generation. It's taken generations to build up and it's going to take time to move on," she said.
"But we have to start now because it's the future generations we need to look after. Alongside climate change, we've got such a huge problem with the food supply in the world, but it needs overarching policies and practices from all sectors of society to work on this together."
Rush believes access to quality food needs to be much easier and more affordable. She's calling for policies and practices to be put in place to teach Kiwis what they should be eating.
"It needs to be there around us, available at a reasonable price or easily able to be grown in our gardens or whatever and supported to be able to do that," Rush told AM.
"We have food-based dietary guidelines, which tell us about our whole grains and vegetables and fruit, but we're not following them. So there needs to be policies and practices that make that possible."
The study found that poor diet contributed to more than 14.1 million cases of type 2 diabetes in 2018 - more than 70 percent of new cases worldwide.
Senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, who is a Jean Mayer professor of nutrition and dean for policy at the Friedman School, said: "Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes globally, and with important variation by nation and over time.
"These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes."