New Video Education Curriculum Teaches Children To Make Healthy Choices

DERBY — Dr David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, recently announced the addition of a new DVD to his Nutrition Detectives program, a brief nutrition curriculum designed primarily for elementary schools, and made available to them for free. Through the new DVD, the Nutrition Detectives program is available to teachers in video format filmed in a “magical” classroom.

The DVD-based curriculum, which includes five educational chapters and an informational video about the Nutrition Detectives program for parents and educators, teaches valuable lessons about the importance of eating well, with an emphasis on practical skills needed to identify and choose nutritious foods. The program teaches children to be “clued in” to health, and gives them five essential clues a nutrition detective needs to get right to the truth about nutrition on any food package.

Through special effects and simulation, Dr Katz uses his “magic classroom” to convert six students into “certified nutrition detectives,” and takes the viewing audience on that same health-promoting journey.

The Nutrition Detectives program has been available to schools in print form for years, and is in dozens if not hundreds of schools throughout the United States. Dr Katz and his colleagues are currently completing a three-year, controlled evaluation of the health effects of the program in 13 elementary schools in Missouri, and will soon be doing the same in New Haven. Like the print materials, the DVD teaches elementary school children to understand nutritional information on food packages; teaches them to see past deceptive marketing claims; helps them distinguish whole grain foods from refined grains; and conveys the importance of eating natural, whole foods such as fruits and vegetables.

“The dietary choices children make today have profound effects on their health,” said Dr Katz. “Kids care about health when you get them to understand that healthy people feel better and have more energy. In short, healthy people have more fun! Nutrition Detectives gets kids to care about their health, and gives them the clues they need to do something about it — and to help their whole family get healthier in the bargain.”

The new Nutrition Detectives video education curriculum, funded by an unrestricted educational grant from Juice Plus+, a natural whole food-based product providing nutrition from fruits, vegetables, and grains in capsule form, is a program of Dr Katz’s nonprofit Turn the Tide Foundation. The foundation was founded on Dr Katz’s mission to empower families to lead healthier lives and to encourage children to eat healthy and exercise daily.

The Nutrition Detectives educational program includes the new DVD as well as a supplementary PowerPoint presentation, teacher’s curriculum guide, and student questionnaire.

Dr Katz is an associate professor, adjunct, of public health practice and formerly the director of medical studies in public health at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr Katz directs the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, which he co-founded in 1998. As director of this clinical research laboratory dedicated to chronic disease prevention, Dr Katz has served as principal investigator for numerous community and clinical trials, and has acquired and managed more than $20 million in research funds. He is internationally recognized as an authority on chronic disease prevention, weight control, and nutrition.

The Turn the Tide Foundation is a nonprofit research foundation dedicated to advancing practical, real-world strategies for empowering the American family to resist the risk of obesity and related chronic diseases. Under the leadership of Dr Katz, Turn the Tide strives to test creative opportunities for improving nutrition, fitness, weight control, and health in schools and local communities, and to determine the best way to encourage children to eat well and exercise daily.

To learn more about the Nutrition Detectives program and to order the free DVD, visit www.davidkatzmd.com.