Tackling Obesity By Boosting Calcium And Exercise

Big White is at it again, spreading their bleached cowsh** for you to step in.

"The battle against obesity in this country could be tackled one community at a time, according to a newly published study in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. Researchers at the University of Colorado at Denver demonstrated the effectiveness of changing behaviors at a community level, suggesting that community-based interventions could be a viable option to address the nation's obesity epidemic. Adults in Calcium, New York, who increased calcium intake by drinking more lowfat milk and other milk products and walked more frequently successfully lost weight after a 16-week overhaul.

In this innovative 'Calcium Weighs In' community intervention, researchers overhauled the health habits of 199 men and women in a small, rural community of Calcium, New York. The free program provided one-on-one nutrition counseling and group classes, urging participants to set reasonable health goals, choose lowfat dairy foods including milk, cheese and yogurt and exceed a 10,000 step per day goal to increase physical activity. "

It appears as if the only "innovative" thing here is the marketing.

Increase your Calories out, decrease your Calories in and Voila!, weight loss.

The role of milk products? Well...

Let's look at who is behind this effort.

The article was released by Weber Shandwick.

It describes its work as:

"At Weber Shandwick, the fundamental power to change behavior and achieve client objectives rests with our professional practitioners — whose individual expertise is arrayed across every significant area of strategic communications management."

It's clients include the "got milk?" campaign.

This is from their "got milk?" case study:

"The campaign was created for the nation's milk processors to stem a 30-year decline in milk consumption. Today, these milk mustached celebrities are the face of an award-winning campaign that is credited with a turnaround for the industry.

Working as part of a seamless integrated team, Weber Shandwick has unveiled more than 250 celebrity milk mustache ads...

Ongoing nutrition communications efforts feature alliances with the country's leading health and nutrition influencers, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Dietetic Association and the School Nutrition Association, and we work with a panel of some of the nation's leading health professionals to leverage breaking research on the health benefits of milk.
In all, the campaign has generated nearly 18 billion earned media impressions for milk. Most importantly, the decline in milk sales has halted and increases in consumption are being seen among our most important consumer groups targeted by the campaign, particularly women and teens."

The "Calcium Weighs-In" campaign was highlighted in D-brief, "a weekly dairy business e-newsletter."

"A part of the Healthy Weight with Dairy campaign, yesterday's promotion kickoff of MilkPEP's "Calcium Weighs In" program touts the success of a 16-week trial in the town of Calcium, N.Y. The program taught residents how to make better food and lifestyle choices overall, including eating at least three servings of milk, cheese and yogurt each day and resulted in participants losing about a pound each week. The promotion includes 13 regional events with sampling of milk, cheese and yogurt products from 43 dairy processors to commuters. Events included: prize giveaways, including a year's supply of milk cheese and yogurt, and pedometers for the first 100 lunchtime location visitors; dairy council dietitians were on-hand to answer questions; and a milk mustache photo booth was available."

MilkPep's self-description is:

"The Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), Washington, D.C., is funded by the nation's milk processors, who are committed to increasing fluid milk consumption. MilkPEP activities are led by a 15-member board, which is monitored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service.

For information about the board and its members, please click here.

MilkPEP's teen consumer site, bodybymilk.com, has all the latest news about milk mustache celebrity ads, contests and events, and games. Click here to find out more about how milk can help teens look and feel good.

MilkPEP's adult consumer site, whymilk.com, focuses on the latest news about milk's role in weight loss. Click here to find tips, tools, recipes, and health and nutrition information for you and your family.

MilkPEP's trade site, milkdelivers.org, is designed to spotlight milk's role in business. Click here to see how milk can play a vital role in schools, vending, grocery, drug stores, c-stores, and food service."

I don't know about you, but my opinion is that this "research" and campaign might be influenced a bit, just a bit, by milk industry MOOlah.

You decide.