Nestlé Backs Healthy Childhood Weight Initiative in the US

The ‘Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight’, established by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), will produce clear, accessible resources for health professionals, communities and parents, based on government policies and scientific evidence.

24 Oct 2012 --- More families in the United States will be able to find practical information and advice to help them adopt a healthier diet and lifestyle as Nestlé supports the creation of a new organisation dedicated to the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity.

The ‘Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight’, established by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), will produce clear, accessible resources for health professionals, communities and parents, based on government policies and scientific evidence.

Nestlé is the founding sponsor of the institute, which will also be funded and supported by a range of government and other sources.

“Many organisations in the United States are currently playing vital roles in combating the global epidemic of childhood obesity,” said Dr José Saavedra, Medical Director for Nestlé Nutrition in the United States.

“The Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight will fill an important gap by focusing on the need to establish healthy feeding and dietary patterns in the first 1,000 days of life.

“By contributing our support and expertise to this initiative, we aim to help the AAP leverage its unique ability to promote behaviours that lead to healthy childhood weights and lifelong well-being,” he added.

Nestlé’s collaboration with the AAP is a natural extension of the work it has undertaken with the organisation over the past three years.

The company supported research which led to the development of the AAP’s ‘Healthy Active Living for Families’ (HALF) programme, designed to enhance the quality of obesity prevention information available to parents.

The programme, launched earlier this year, offers evidence-based resources to enable parents to make healthy choices for their children.

These include interactive education features, quizzes and tips, which can be found on the AAP’s website HealthyChildren.org. They are based on research that showed parents of young children preferred to receive information about nutrition and exercise in a simple, online format.

Nestlé also shared data from its ‘Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study’ with the AAP, the United States Department of Agriculture, and other professional organisations that are helping to shape dietary recommendations for infants and toddlers.

The Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight is one of a number of initiatives Nestlé is supporting in the US as part of its commitment to nutrition, health and wellness.

In February, the company announced its participation in a community education programme to help reduce childhood obesity in the city of Newark, as well as a similar initiative in the state of Michigan in partnership with the local government.

In June, Nestlé joined scientific and public health experts at the Global Obesity Forum in New York in calling for the creation of more community-based programmes to help prevent childhood obesity.

The AAP is a non-profit professional membership organisation that connects about 60,000 paediatricians across the United States.

It is involved in a range of activities dedicated to enhancing the physical, mental and social health and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

The AAP has recently developed a new virtual office platform for paediatricians, funded by a grant from United Health Foundation. It offers a range of resources for conducting obesity prevention, assessment, and treatment.