Many medical studies have shown that current programs to get children to eat healthier are not working. However, a program called Food Dudes has had positive results in Ireland. Other countries such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom are looking into the four superheroes called Charlie, Tom, Raz, and Rocco as they fight General Junk and his Junk Punks, and their evil plan to eliminate fresh fruits and vegetables.

See the Food Dudes website at: http://www.fooddudes.ie/.

According to the Food Dudes website, “The Food Dudes are “cool” and always successful. They are involved in saving the Life Force and compete with a gang of baddies called the Junk Punks, who plot to take away the energy of the world by depriving it of fruit and vegetables. In their video adventures, the Dudes gain special powers by eating fruit and vegetables and are able to foil the Junk Punks. Children who watch the video are urged to help keep the Life Force strong by eating fruit and vegetables. The videos also include endorsements by popular children's celebrities for eating fruit and vegetables.”

Called officially the Food Dude Healthy Eating Program, it has been developed in Ireland based on psychological principles that have been proven to influence food choices for children. The junk food industry uses similar approaches in their television ads to get children to eat their junk food. An Australian study showed, for instance, that 81% of food ads on TV are for junk food.

On of the  goals with Food Dudes is to apply peer pressure to children. According to the program, past attempts to force children to eat healthy food are ineffective over the long term. Fegus Lowe, who co-developed the program at the University of Wales, Bangor, states, in the July 21-27, 2007 paper issue of New Scientist, that the Food Dudes program focuses “on behaviour change and psychological principles”.

Lowe contends that the program attempts to convince children to repeatedly try fruit and vegetables until the habit is formed and they actually begin to like the taste of healthy foods. Within the Food Dude program, prizes are awarded to children, such as stickers, baseball caps, and badges, who eat sufficient amount of healthy foods.

The pilot study in Ireland showed that, on average, the children that ate the least amount of fruits and vegetables—they were grouped into 20% of all children—increased their eating habits of fruits and vegetables from one gram to 52 grams per day under the Food Dudes program.

According the New Science article, in the United States, since 1980, overweight children have doubled in numbers and overweight adolescents have tripled. In Canada, obesity in children has tripled over the last 25 years. These overweight children, who eventually become overweight adults, are at increased risk of compromised health and even early death from heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other diseases.

A subscription is necessary to view the New Scientist article online: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19526134.000?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19526134.000.

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