Last year, Otago Polytechnic student George Chalmers would cheerfully add four teaspoons of sugar to his cup of tea without a second thought.
This year, he is a changed man, and is concerned excessive sugar consumption is needlessly adding to New Zealand's obesity epidemic.
Today, he will be among about 550 people graduating from the polytechnic with a wide range of qualifications, in a 3pm ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall.
Mr Chalmers is"very excited'' about his graduation, and keen to pursue a career as a graphic designer.
His bachelor of design (communication) degree has helped him develop his graphic design skills and has begun a graphic design internship at a Dunedin firm.
His life was changed earlier this year when he and his partner, Heidi Jensen, watched the Australian documentary That Sugar Film, in which Australian actor and director Damon Gameau took a lead role.
Mr Gameau gained weight and his health deteriorated after eating a good deal of processed food promoted as healthy, but actually containing a great deal of added sugar.
Mr Chalmers said the adding of excessive sugar to processed foods and drinks, including some fruit juices, was "a really big issue in New Zealand and world-wide''.
Inspired by the documentary, he no longer adds sugar to his drinks, and also tries to avoid processed foods with added sugar.
He was an average weight for his height before he stopped eating processed sugar, then quickly lost 5kg.
People were amazed at how quickly he slimmed down.
He has used his graphic design skills to create two issues of an innovative magazine, titled Sugar Coated, as part of his final-year project.
He aims to raise wider community awareness of the ultimately "life-threatening'' effect of highly excessive sugar consumption through the small magazine, which he plans to continue producing and publishing.
A lot of people would be "quite shocked'' to realise that a large bottle of soft drink often contained dozens of spoons of sugar.
"People look the other way and don't look at what's in front.''
But, given New Zealand's obesity epidemic, this was "definitely a serious matter'' and he hoped rising public awareness would encourage food manufacturers to cut the amount of added sugar in food and drinks.
● A Maori pre-graduation event co-ordinated by Otago Polytechnic yesterday was a "fantastic'' success, organisers said.
Polytechnic Maori support adviser Rebecca Swindells said 27 polytechnic graduands attended the celebration at the Sargood Centre.
Waiata were sung and the success of Te Ani Rakete in winning an Otago Daily Times award for personal achievement was acknowledged.
Mr Rakete will receive the award at the town hall today.
