The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

On the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 30 August, Jonah Lomu was a giant of the rugby world and a global superstar. A new documentary coming to cinemas this week sheds light on the life of Jonah behind the scenes.  Director Vea Mafile'o joins Francesca in studio to share what she learned about Jonah Lomu from her time working on the film.

A quote from her website best sums up the life of Irish born Kiwi, Nic Russell; “life didn’t just throw the book at Nic Russell – it dropped the whole library”.  Nic joins Francesca to talk about her life and how she's kept going through the hard times.

Francesca calls on politicians to have an honest conversation about tax, while General Practioners New Zealand has released a 100 year blue print to fix the health system. Interim Chair Justin Butcher talks to Francesca about the need for cross party support for a united health service.

And a warning this week around using the airport Wi-Fi, Megan Singleton has all the details.

Get the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast every Sunday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Having one sugary drink a day probably doesn't feel like a particularly dangerous habit, but a large new study published in the journal Gastro Hep Advances suggests regularly drinking sugar-sweetened beverages could be associated with a large increase in the risk of stomach cancer. 
 
The researchers found that people consuming more than one sugary drink a day had around 2.5 times the risk of developing gastric cancer compared with people drinking them less than once a month. Among women, the association was even stronger, at around three times the risk. 
 
The study analysed two enormous long-running studies of 112,284 people where the participants regularly provided information about their health and lifestyle, while detailed food questionnaires collected every four years recorded what they ate and drank. 
 
Sugary drinks included regular fizzy drinks, fruit punch, lemonade and sports drinks. One serving was defined as 8 fluid ounces, about 237 mL. Participants were divided into five groups, from fewer than one serving a month to more than one every day.

Across more than 3.2 million person-years of observation, 278 people developed gastric cancer.

After adjusting for factors including body weight, smoking, alcohol consumption, diabetes, physical activity, calorie intake and overall diet quality, people drinking more than one sugary beverage a day had 2.45 times the risk of gastric cancer compared with people who essentially never drank them. 
 
One of the strongest known risk factors for stomach cancer is infection with Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that can live in the stomach lining and cause long-term inflammation.

Researchers had H. pylori antibody measurements for a smaller subset of participants. Interestingly, sugary-drink consumption wasn't associated with H. pylori infection, suggesting the bacteria didn't explain the relationship they observed. 
 
They then looked at fructose, one of the major sugars in sugar-sweetened drinks.

Higher total fructose consumption was also associated with greater gastric cancer incidence overall and particularly among women. 
 
Scientists don't yet know how sugary drinks might influence cancer development. Possible mechanisms include weight gain, insulin resistance, inflammation, DNA damage and changes to the microbes living in our digestive system, but the biological mechanism remains unknown. 
 
Interestingly, the same pattern wasn't seen with artificially sweetened beverages. 
 
This was an observational study, so it can identify an association but can't prove cause and effect. Researchers couldn't randomly assign people to drink soft drinks every day for decades, so other differences between frequent and infrequent sugary-drink consumers could still contribute to the results. 

Researchers now need to reproduce the results in other populations and work out whether fructose or another aspect of sugary drinks could actually be contributing to cancer development. 
 
For now, it's another reminder that when it comes to our health, the small things we consume every day may matter more than the occasional treat. 

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Experts have noticed chronic fatigue syndrome is on the rise, and there's plenty of theories about why this is.

Between long Covid, post-viral fatigue, and chronic stress, there's a lot of factors at play and experts are trying to get a handle on it.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara outlined some measures that could boost recovery, including supplements, herbal medicine, exercise, and energy management. 

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Country music legend, songwriter and humanitarian Dolly Parton died last week, and tributes have been rolling in from all over the world.

Parton died in Nashville from cancer aged 80, and her music has seen a significant bump in streaming.

Entertainment correspondent Steve Newall looked back on the stories people have shared about her.

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From sheep to chic - wool has taken centre stage on the runway for another year.

Off the heels of New Zealand Fashion Week, the hugely popular annual WoolOn Gala Awards Evening has been hosted in Central Otago. 

69 designers showcased their work, each meeting the challenge of their garment containing at least 75 percent wool. 

Award-winning Kiwi fashion designer Liz Mitchell says it's wonderful to see people's creativity on the catwalk, especially with younger designers getting involved. 

"The future for wool should be be really strong...in the creative sector." 

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The Government has unveiled a proposed bill designed to ban under-16s from social media - and it could stop all Kiwis from accessing certain platforms if the companies don't comply.

Section 38 of the bill lays out 'access restriction orders' which gives the High Court power to require access service providers to stop providing access to these platforms. 

Newstalk ZB political reporter Ethan Griffiths says Meta could be faced with giving up 10 percent of its annual revenue if it doesn't comply with the bill - with Minister Erica Stanford saying 'meaningful' consequences are needed. 

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General Practice New Zealand's pitching its 10-year blue print for healing our health system.

Measures include long term workforce planning, a shared electronic care record, funding model reviews and sustained GP investment. 

Interim chair Justin Butcher says the country's health sector has been through challenging times and will likely go through more - and a unified approach is needed. 

"We've had Covid, and we'd be very naïve if we thought this would be the last one. So we do need to start to think and plan a little bit differently if we want to address the issues."

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The Springboks empire has struck back in Cape Town, levelling the Greatest Rivalry Series against the All Blacks at one-all.

South Africa claimed a 33-26 win, outscored four tries to three by the All Blacks but the difference was the superb goal-kicking of wing Cheslin Kolbe.

Newstalk ZB rugby commentator Elliott Smith says the All Blacks were left chasing their tails - leaving South Africa 'fully deserving' of their win.

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This week’s political noise was all about tax. It’s perhaps the key battleground heading into the election, even if the main parties seem determined to make their tax policies as uninspiring as possible.  

And that's not an accident. 

Our politicians know something very important about New Zealand voters, we don't like paying more tax. In fact, we tend to regard a tax increase as a personal insult.  

But here's the catch. We also expect good hospitals, decent schools, functioning roads, reliable infrastructure, police, welfare, superannuation and all the other things governments provide. 

We want Scandi-level public services at bargain basement tax rates.  

And that’s the challenge the main parties face with their tax policies and managing the public debate ahead of the election. When the public won’t make a real choice between services and cost, or accept any significant trade-offs, how do you pretend you’ve got a solution?

National's answer - after a couple of weeks of torturous wordplay - has landed on ‘no new taxes’. This doesn’t mean existing taxes won’t be increased, and we’re all wondering about the planned 12c-a-litre fuel tax hike due in January.  

Labour is offering a capital gains tax on investment property, expected to raise about $700 million a year once it’s up and running, and have confirmed they too would not introduce new taxes. However, Chris Hipkins wouldn’t confirm whether Labour would restore interest deductibility restrictions for landlords, a move that would have the effect of increasing the amount of tax landlords have to pay. 

The minor parties appeal to narrower constituencies so speak more freely and are considerably more ambitious. 

ACT is about retrenchment, controlled spending and shrinking the state. 

The Greens want to tax wealth, big companies, banks and large inheritances. Te Pāti Māori wants a $30,000 tax-free threshold and wealth taxes reaching 2.5 percent at the top. New Zealand First wants the first $14,000 tax-free and tax brackets indexed to inflation. 

And the Opportunity Party wants to blow up the traditional tax model altogether, replacing much of it with a land tax to fund a universal citizen's income. 

You can argue about whether these are good ideas. But at least they're ideas. 

The real question is though, under MMP what policy survives coalition negotiations? While many of these ideas are destined for the political equivalent of the recycling bin, they do give us an idea of how a party may negotiate a coalition agreement if they get the chance. For example, the Opportunity Party may drop their land tax policy in return for Labour to broaden their CGT.  

And then there’s the question of whether any of these ideas will raise enough money.

A capital gains tax on investment property which delivers $700 million sounds like a lot, until you remember the Government is spending $155 billion a year. It’ would be a slim contributor to the gap between Labour’s plan to maintain core Crown spending around 33 percent of GDP while revenue sits near 31 percent.  

To sum up - Labour's proposal isn't remotely big enough to transform the tax base, National's promise of no new taxes isn't an economic strategy, and proposing cuts in spending should mean being prepared to tell voters exactly what you won't be doing. 

Perhaps we're being offered exactly what the parties think we want. Small tax changes. No nasty surprises.  

But is it really? This week the results of a survey of 1600 people funded by the Cancer Society and published in the New Zealand Medical Journal found 62 percent of respondents supported the idea of paying more tax for increased healthcare funding. 29 percent were opposed.  

So maybe, instead of promising what they won’t do, we need politicians willing to have honest conversations rather than engage in verbal gymnastics and word-salad.  

Because if the choice at this election is simply tax a little more, tax a little less, or don't change anything, then frankly, we’re just voting for more of the same, and we know where that gets us.  

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Famed Kiwi outdoorsman Sam Gibson's found some more stories in the bush - and he's turned his findings into a new book.

Sam is deeply passionate about hunting, foraging, trapping, fishing and conservation, and even spent some time working for the Department of Conservation. 

A Bushman's Book of Yarns aims to teach readers about New Zealand's unique ecosystems and wildlife. 

"Now that I'm a Gisborne District Councillor, I do speaking gigs around the country, I've got young kids - like, a bit of time in the bush just by myself would be amazing." 

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