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Alberta Global forum
May 12, 2008
MEDIA ADVISORY
Give it to Mikey, he’ll eat anything
Remember "Mikey" from the cereal commercial? The one where two boys are sitting with him and neither one of them wanted to taste the new cereal, so they fed it to Mikey and he ate it? Today, children might not need a “Mikey” in their lives—cool packaging is attempting to take his place. Gimmicks, such as glow in the dark yogurt tubes and oatmeal with dinosaur eggs that “hatch” into little dinosaurs with boiling water, are raising some new questions that need to be considered in the quest for healthy living.
The University of Calgary’s Alberta Global Forum will explore this and other topics, such as preventative care, fitness, nutrition, mental health and stress management. In partnership with the Glenbow Museum and the U of C Senate, the event titled: What You Don’t Know About Healthy Living May Kill You, takes place Tuesday, May 13.
“In the last five years, we have seen an exponential increase in the number of foods specifically targeted to children in the supermarket,” says Charlene Elliott, U of C professor in the Faculty of Communication and Culture. “These foods are 'regular' products repackaged to appeal to children. The difficulty for healthy eating is that these foods tend to emphasize the artificiality of the product.”
Elliott, who is also a principal investigator of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded project on the marketing of foods to children, hopes to demystify and expose the tactics that marketers use to promote unhealthy food choices to children—how fancy food packaging geared to children often works to disguise the "truth" about fat and sugar content from parents.
Other speakers include:
Dr. Sam Weiss, recent recipient of the world’s most prestigious medical science award—the Gairdner International Award, and professor and director of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute.
Michelle Lang, Calgary Herald health reporter, will provide background on the recent instances of the MRSA super-bug being reported within the Calgary Health Region.
Larry Ohlhauser, known internationally for his seminar and forthcoming book entitled The Healthy CEO, he will share the original secrets from his best-selling book on managing stress, and balancing work and home life.
WHAT:
U of C Alberta Global Forum: What You Don’t Know About Healthy Living May Kill You
WHEN:
Tuesday, May 13 – 7 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Evans Room, Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary
WEBSITE:
www.ucalgary.ca/agf/
For information:
Veronica Hoskins, External Relations
P: 403.220.3506/C:403.923.1537