NFL and National Dairy Council take aim at childhood obesity

Washington Ag Today October 16, 2009 The NFL and National Dairy Council, the nutrition research and education arm of the dairy producer checkoff, yesterday launched Fuel Up to Play 60, a new initiative aimed at tackling childhood obesity by giving youth a voice in changing the school nutrition and physical activity environment. The program will reach 36 million youth in 60,000 elementary, middle and high schools across the nation during the 2009/2010 school year.

Liz Anderson, a western Washington dairy producer and member of the board of Dairy Management Inc., which manages the dairy check off, talked about working with the NFL in a recent interview.

Anderson: “So if you watch the NFL at all you know they have their Play 60, which is the exercise program for the kids. We teamed with them and now USDA has come on board because we are all concerned about child nutrition, heath and obesity. Now they are all playing with us now. So when we go into schools with our dairy nutrition efforts, then the NFL comes in, hey we are going to have excitement. We are going to make a play and we are going to feel good about being healthy and active.” :

The youth-led program empowers children and teens to take charge of their health and work with school leaders to create more opportunities for 60 minutes of daily physical activity and to make more healthy foods available, such as low-fat and fat-free dairy foods, fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.