monster's BLOG
It seems that everyday you can log onto the Internet and see articles referring to a scientific study from somewhere around the globe. Some of these studies are done by private research companies, others are by governments, many are done by universities, and sometimes there’s a mix of all three. When professionals read these studies, they pay close attention to the scientific methods and procedures that were used. Most prominent health journals have peer review boards that decide if an article is good enough for publication. Archimage has been a leader in nutrition and health game research for over 10 years years. Results of their work have been published in numerous national and international peer-reviewed scientific journals. For a short list, search Pubmed, an online database of scientific and biomedical journals, for Archimage and Playnormous’ president Richard Buday (a frequent co-author).
A good example of this appeared in Public Health Nutrition in 2010. A team from Baylor College of Medicine and Archimage collaborated to find the best method to visually teach children how to estimate food portions. Children aged 8 to 13 were asked to guess the portion size of 16 food models by matching them to the correct photo. They were shown food images of varying portion sizes. Some children were tested using size cues like utensils or a checked tablecloth placed in the photo as hints. Some were shown each portion photo one at a time; and some were shown all of their photo choices on one page ranging in size from small to large.
In the end, results showed that children made correct food model portion matches with the photos 60% of the time. The way the photos were displayed did not affect accuracy, but choosing from the full page of photo options was 50% faster than viewing them one at a time.
So, if you are planning to teach children how to estimate portion sizes of food photography, presently the most efficient way to is to show them all of their size options at once. Using this method, they will be correct about 60% of the time with this method.
Archimage is very interested and committed to quality research on the best ways to improve childhood nutrition and physical activity behavior. Check the Playnormous Blog often to read the latest nutrition research news. Teachers and parents can use these reviews to help guide their class methods and their application at home.
World-renowned. 
The International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, better known as ISBNPA, is one of the most highly regarded nutrition societies in the world. Their vision and mission is to stimulate, promote and advocate innovative research and policy in the area of behavioral nutrition and physical activity toward the betterment of human health worldwide.
Their website is small, but they do have a resource list which is pretty amazing. If you want to credible resources on physical activity and nutrition, this is the place to go. Here are just a few of the resources you will find:
- Action for Healthy Kids
- American Dietetic Association
- European Food Guide Pyramid
- CDC Nutrition and Physical Activity
- International Association for the Study of Obesity
- National Center for Bicycling & Walking
- Physical Educators Network
- Public Health Association of Australia
- Society for Nutrition Education
- And more…
Enjoy all those amazing resources!
Now fortified and enriched. 
When we heard that the USDA and the White House were holding a health games competition, we knew our name was written all over it. After all, Pyramid Pile Up was already using USDA databases and information from their MyPyramid website. Because it’s a competition, we decided to give Pyramid Pile Up a slight makeover.
Introducing Pyramid Pile Up Plus!
Pyramid Pile Up Plus is a puzzle game many of you may be familiar with. As with Pyramid Pile Up, you play against the Chompies to fill up a pyramid of healthy foods. What makes Pyramid Pile Up Plus a “plus” is two-fold:
- Pyramid Pile Up Plus delivers health information to players using two USDA databases, FNDDS 3.0 and MyFoodapedia.
- Starting in level 2, scrolling over food tiles reveals nutrition labels. Now it’s even easier to make healthier choices by choosing foods that are low in fat, saturated fat, and sugar.
- Pyramid Pile Up Plus is available in both English and Spanish. ¡Olé!
Wow! So fun! You’ll only find Pyramid Pile Up Plus for this competition so play now or watch the video. You can vote for your favorite healthy kid app and game starting July 14. We hope you enjoy Pyramid Pile Up Plus and want to vote for Playnormous!
About the Apps for Healthy Kids Competition.
The Apps for Healthy Kids competition is a part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation. Apps for Healthy Kids challenges software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop fun and engaging software tools and games that drive children, especially “tweens” (ages 9-12) – directly or through their parents – to eat better and be more physically active. Tools and games should be built using the USDA nutrition dataset recently made available to the public through the Open Government Initiative.
Researching food for thought. 
During a quest for an interview for my healthGAMERS blog, I discovered the wonderful research that Cornell University is doing at their Food and Brand Lab. They are a group of scientists that research nothing but those questions you’ve always wondered about the way we eat and why. Why do we unknowingly overeat? What do restaurants do to get us to eat more? Are our fears about food safety valid? Are the marketing statements on food packages misleading? Needless to say, there is a plethora of interesting information on this site. What a great job!
Studies of interest on why we overeat.
Portion size is often overlooked by those wishing to maintain a healthy diet. It’s not just what you eat but how much. Unfortunately for the consumer, there are many external triggers that will influence how much we eat. Here are just a few that the Cornell Food and Brand Lab have discovered:
- Our mood affects our eating habits – People who watch sad movies eat about 28% more popcorn than people who watch happy movies.
- How food is served affects our eating habits – People who eat from large bowls consume about 56% more food that people who eat from small bowls.
- Environmental distractions affect our eating habits – People who watch TV or read while eating tend to eat for longer periods of time.
- What’s available affects our eating habits – People who buy food in bulk increase their consumption rates especially when products are convenient to consume.
- What the label says affects our eating habits – People who eat foods labeled “low fat” eat 28% more than foods labeled “regular.”
Stay tuned to Monster’s Blog for more amazing research from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab!
Eat you broccoli, Timmy.
I’ve been wanting to do an article on how parenting can affect childhood eating habits for a while now. It’s been in the draft pile until our VP, Richard Buday, sent this Newsweek article to me: “How Mac N’ Cheese Is Like A Cigarette.” That’s a mighty catchy title and powerful claim. The article explains how parents that feed their kids macaroni and cheese, like many other high fat, high calorie kid-popular foods, are conditioning their children to a lifetime of hypereating. According to the article, hypereating is “eating that’s excessive, out of control and has nothing to do with satisfying hunger.”
We know we can’t just blame macaroni and cheese. If there were no demand for these high fat products then they wouldn’t exist on store shelves, right? So it must be the parents who are to blame. Well…maybe. Or you could side with the folks at The New Yorker who say that we’re overparenting kids already. They would probably argue that parents should let their kids experience the joy of being a kid by letting them eat that high fat macaroni and cheese while they can.
What is a health-driven parent to do?
I’m not giving you much information here because I want you to tell me what you think. Which is better:
- A parent who restricts diet and steers their child towards healthier foods from the getgo…or….
- A parent that exposes their child to all kinds of foods, high fat and all, and let’s the child ultimately decide?
