(LAKELAND, Fla.) – May 28, 2008 – Publix Super Markets and Produce for Kids® (PFK), an organization that promotes the benefits of healthy eating and supports worthy causes for children, today unveiled the “Get Healthy, Give Hope” campaign, a spring initiative that will raise money for local Children’s Miracle Network® (CMN) hospitals and encourage parents to add more fruits and vegetables to their kids’ diets. A Produce for Kids national research study released earlier this month revealed that only 18 percent of America’s children are eating the recommended three or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and 43 percent of kids have one or less daily serving of fresh produce. The study also showed that parents spend an average of just $103 per year on fruits – or $2.00 per week – and $114.62 on vegetables.

Encompassing over 930 stores in the Southeast, the campaign will start on June 5 and run through July 2. “Get Healthy, Give Hope” sponsors Country FreshTM Vegetable Platters; Crunch Pak® Sliced Apples; Del Monte Gold® Extra Sweet Pineapple; DOLE® Packaged Salads; Odwalla® Beverages; Shuman Produce’s REALSWEET® brand Vidalia® Onions and Tropicana® Pure Premium® Orange Juice will make a monetary donation for every fresh produce item purchased during the campaign. One hundred percent of the funds raised will benefit Children’s Miracle Network hospitals in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina.

Cornell University food scientists have discovered that substances called phytochemicals, found primarily in the skin of apples, provide huge anti-oxidant and anti-cancer benefits. In an article in the journal Nature five years ago, Liu and his colleagues credited phytochemicals – antioxidants – in fresh apples with inhibiting human liver and colon cancer cell growth. Antioxidants help prevent cancer by mopping up cell-damaging free radicals and inhibiting the production of reactive substances that could damage normal cells.

“Studies increasingly provide evidence that it is the additive and synergistic effects of the phytochemicals present in fruits and vegetables that are responsible for their potent antioxidant and anticancer activities. Our findings suggest that consumers may gain more significant health benefits by eating more fruits and vegetables and whole grain foods than in consuming expensive dietary supplements, which do not contain the same array of balanced, complex components.” says Liu.

Article from NY Apple Country. To finish reading the article and find links to the Cornell study, click here.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, nearly one out of every five children between the ages of 6 and 11 is classified as overweight, double the rate of 20 years ago. Teenagers fared even worse, with about 17 percent considered overweight, more than three times two decades ago. The CDC also reported that more than half of overweight children and teens have at least one other risk factor for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.

Healthy eating habits start with children, so marketers are partnering with Disney, one of the most recognizable names in cartoons, to make fruit and vegetables more attractive to kids.

Imagination Farms

Imagination Farms was formed about a year ago with one simple goal: to increase the consumption of produce among kids, chief executive officer Matthew Caito said. The company rolled out the first of its Disney-branded products this summer, which included fresh-cut and whole produce.

“Our objective is to take childrens’ fresh produce experience beyond meal or snack time. We want to help them learn about nutrition and recognize the values and flavors fresh produce has to offer.”

By introducing Disney characters into produce merchandising, the company’s goal is to involve children in their food and make eating fruits and vegetables fun. Some of the products already available include stone fruit and blueberries with the Mickey & Friends label from Ito Packing, Reedley, Calif. Ito Packing was the first supplier to begin shipping the Disney produce.

“The excitement at the retail level has been impressive and we are happy to help introduce consumers to this high quality, wholesome brand with a full assortment of stone fruit,” said Craig Ito, president of Ito Packing.

Cashmere, Wash.-based Crunch Pak began shipping fresh-cut red and green apples in August with Imagination Farms. The apples are packed in a clamshell with five 2.8-ounce bags. The company will begin shipping bags of red and green fresh-cut apples in a 14-ounce bag in October.

Tony Freytag, director of marketing for Crunch Pak, said creating a package that is attractive to children makes parents’ jobs easier.

"If it can be their idea to eat something that is easy, it’s much easier than parents trying to force them," Freytag said.

“We want to move the nag factor from the cereal aisle to the produce aisle,” Caito said.

By introducing children to healthy food, his company was “elevating the eating experience from just a meal,” he said, to “something mom feels good about.”

“Disney’s very excited about this,” Caito said, because Disney and the produce industry make a great team.

When a company is associated with kids, it only makes sense to have healthy products.

An apple a day also may keep away memory loss, asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and tooth loss. Crisp, new details:

Memory. Drinking 2 cups of apple juice or eating two to three apples a day may boost production of acetylcholine, often lacking in Alzheimer's patients. When University of Massachusetts Lowell researchers gave apple juice concentrate to elderly mice with Alzheimer's-like symptoms, they did better on learning maze tests and had more acetylcholine.

Cancer. An Italian study showed that eating at least an apple a day cut risk of cancer of the mouth and pharynx by 21%; esophagus, 25%; colon, 20%; breast, 18%; ovaries, 15%; prostate, 9%.

Asthma. Apples are rich in an antioxidant called apigenin that, in animal tests in Japan, suppressed responses leading to asthma and allergies. Apigenin also is found in beans, broccoli, celery, cherries, grapes, onions and parsley.

Diabetes. Harvard investigators found that women who ate an apple a day were 28% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than women who ate none.

Heart. Eating apples may help stifle blood clots and plaque in arteries, which lead to heart disease. Example: Eating two more apples or 1 1/2 cups of 100% apple juice a day slowed changes in bad LDL cholesterol that contribute to artery-clogging plaque, says University of California-Davis research. And European studies suggest less fatal heart disease and 40% fewer strokes in apple eaters.

Teeth. Harvard epidemiologists say men who stopped eating apples were more apt to lose their teeth.

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