Newsbites: February 23rd

Not a lot of super relevant nutrition related research made big news this week. But here are a couple items I thought you might find interesting and/or useful.

Across the Pacific Ocean the obesity problem is also rearing its ugly head and Thailand officials are doing something about it. They've created a 'sugar reduction program'. Hmmm.. intriguing perhaps. According to a recent study, Thai children consume a whopping 20 teaspoons of sugar a day; that's 14 teaspoons over the recommended daily limit of 6 teaspoons. The Thai government is asking primary schools to voluntarily ban sugary drinks from their campuses and so far about 600 schools have agreed to do so. Apparently it's campus wide so none on the playground or in the classroom.

Interestingly, as their diet becomes more westernized and more fast food joints permeate their society, the Thai population has become more and more obese. Our influence reaches far and wide, good or bad. So while we're trying to reverse our own epidemic other countries are once again following our lead (which got to the problem to begin with) and taking steps to curb their own rising obesity rates.

Speaking of obesity, how easy is it to get the gravity of this problem across to our kids? And aren't all those video games making the problem worse? Enter "Obeez City", the fictional location of a new DVD game and movie called "Body Mechanics". This is so cool. Body Mechanics features superheroes who teach kids how to prevent weight gain by fighting villains with clever names like Col Esterol and Free Radz. The action happens inside the body of Jack DeCayd, where said body is at risk of falling prey to the evil Coalition of Harm and Disease. It's up to the Body Mechanics Heroes to save him! I love it. My only question is "Shouldn't they watch this or play it standing up?".

The DVD is in limited release right now in Target, Walgreen's, Border's and CVS Pharmacies. But you can go straight to their website at www.bodymechanics.tv to check it out and/or purchase it. If any one does I'd love to hear what you and your kid think of it. Does it have an impact? Lessons learned?

Have a fruit and veggie filled weekend!

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