There are fears the cost of living crisis will affect the height of our children in years to come because of malnutrition.
After World War Two, an entire generation in parts of Europe grew up with health issues rarely seen in their parents. Now, there are concerns skyrocketing food prices could lead us to see similar issues in our tamariki.
New Zealand is currently battling a cost of living crisis, which has seen the cost of many things rise including food prices, soar.
Food prices were 12.5 percent higher in April this year compared to 2022. The surging costs reflected higher prices for fruit and vegetables, eggs and potato chips, Stats NZ said.
This increase was the largest since September 1987, which included the introduction of GST in 1986.
Fruit and vegetable prices surged 22.5 percent year-on-year and grocery prices were up 14 percent.
With many Kiwis struggling, lots are turning to cheaper food so they can put food on the table for their family.
But Auckland University of Technology professor of nutrition Elaine Rush told AM on Thursday the cost of living crisis could see New Zealand have a repeat of what happened during World War Two.
"We are what we eat. All the molecules that we're made of come from the foods that we eat. At the end of World War Two, there was an area in Holland where women who were pregnant and others didn't get enough food to eat," Rush told AM co-host Ryan Bridge.
"Then 68 years later, they found that those children born to those mothers had more health problems like cardiovascular disease and diabetes earlier than those who were born when their mothers were better nourished."
She warned if this malnutrition continues it could lead to our children of future years growing up shorter.
"We've got concerns that if our continued malnutrition in New Zealand continues and we have a lot of that as our overweight and obesity statistics tell us that also there will be deficits in the growth and development of our children, which also means in their ability to do things because we're not just structures," she said.
Malnutrition could not only lead to kids being shorter in the future but also have a different number of cells in the pancreas, which produces insulin.
"We know that children born to mothers who have gestational diabetes and that's one in ten in New Zealand are much more likely to get diabetes later in life," she told AM.
"That's due to the fact that once the child is conceived, the nutrition of that child and the environment in which they grow, particularly for the first 1000 days because the growth is so rapid then, that any deficits in the nutrients, the molecules, the 30 essential nutrients that they must get in their diet can have long term effects in life."
She stresses that the first 1000 days are so critical for making sure our future kids reach their full potential.
"It's so important at critical periods of growth like the first 1000 days, the early childhood and then adolescence, which is very rapid growth and change that we're well-nourished because otherwise, we don't reach our full potential," Rush told AM.
"We know that with our pot plants, farmers know that with their animals that they bring up, so we need to look after our children better."
Rush wants change and is calling for New Zealand to make our food system part of our health system so we fix issues before they occur.
"We spend a lot of money on Pharmac and drugs, but that's when the problems are there," Rush told AM.
"Let's try and prevent some of those problems by feeding our children and others, and particularly new mothers better and particularly vegetables and fruit, which is so expensive."
Watch the full interview with Elaine Rush in the video above.
