A new interactive, educational Web site to teach kids and their families how to live healthier lives through healthy eating and physical activity was unveiled recently. Kidnetic.com is the initial program element of ACTIVATE, a partnership of six organizations working together to help prevent childhood obesity. The six partner organizations include: American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Sports Medicine, American Dietetic Association, International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, International Life Sciences Institute Center for Health Promotion and National Recreation and Park Association.

The site includes a wealth of fun and educational activities related to eating right, maintaining healthy weight and wellness in general. Research behind the development of the content for the site was conducted with "tweens" aged 9 to 12. Features currently available at the site include a poll about body image; a recipe database kids can search for fun, easy and healthy recipes; the interactive Busy Buddy (Which is possibly this site's most fun feature in this young-at-heart Guide's opinion!); games and much more.

The site speaks to the growing prevalence of obesity among young people in response to a government call-to-action in 2001: "Last December, the Surgeon General issued a call-to-action to the nation to develop comprehensive approaches and partnerships to address the growing problem of overweight and obesity," said Sylvia Rowe, president and CEO of the IFIC Foundation. "We at the IFIC Foundation saw the same need three years ago when we initiated our research program and have been working since that time with our partners and science advisors to develop this innovative Web site."

All Kidnetic.com content has been reviewed and approved by the six partner organizations and a panel of science advisors from the fields of nutrition, family medicine, exercise physiology, behavioral psychology and recreation. In addition, all site features have been tested with kids. "Kidnetic.com may be one of the only Web sites for kids that tells them to get up and get moving if they sit too long in front of the computer. Another unique feature is that it is a completely non-commercial Web site," said Richard B. Elder, senior director of the IFIC Foundation. "There is no advertising, nothing for sale and no links to any company or brand Web site."

Rowe concluded, "We know Kidnetic.com alone will not solve the problem of childhood obesity, but it can be an important part of the overall solution. By providing kids and parents with ideas and tools to help them work together to begin to change their habits today, we are planting the seeds for healthier families tomorrow."

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