DEERFIELD BEACH, FL September 8, 2004 —eDiets.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:DIET),
a leading online diet and healthy living destination, today announced the launch
of its “Learn. Eat. Live!” campaign specifically designed to raise overall awareness regarding childhood obesity and to give parents access to proven, practical tools to help them address childhood obesity in their own
homes.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 15 percent
of children today ages 6-19 are overweight, and another 15 percent are at risk
of becoming overweight. This, coupled with the findings from eDiets.com’s
recent survey related to childhood nutrition and physical fitness, makes it
clear that it’s long overdue for parents to take action to get their kids
healthy — and they know it. Many survey respondents reported problems
with improving their children’s health: they either “struggle to
find the best ways to help them” (46%) or “often end up doing what
makes children happy, even if it’s unhealthy” (24%). Tactics have
ranged from “sneaking healthy foods into their kids’ diet”
(24%) to “limiting candy and soda to a minimum (22%),” methods that
fail to instill healthy habits by the kids’ own volition. The results
go from bad to worse, with 44% reporting that poor health and fitness have affected
their children’s self-esteem, “especially as they’ve gotten
older.”
This is exactly why, throughout September 2004, eDiets.com’s Learn. Eat.
Live! campaign will address the childhood obesity crisis for the 2004-2005 school
year and beyond. The campaign features:
The launch of its personalized online Trim Kids plan, a scientifically tested
and clinically supported childhood nutrition plan;
· Up to 10,000 free one-month eDiets.com Trim Kids memberships throughout
September on a first-come, first-served registration basis;
A free electronic newsletter, Healthy Kids by eDiets.com, dedicated to children’s
nutrition and health issues;
Free expert advice to the general public through a live audio Webcast to be
held on Thursday, September 30, 2004 at 8:00 – 9:30 PM Eastern, hosted
by Trim Kids co-author Melinda Sothern, Ph.D., and eDiets.com Chief Nutritionist
Susan Burke, M.S., R.D., L.D., CDE. Interested participants can register at
http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=24581;
A dedicated childhood nutrition online support board, moderated by eDiets.com
nutrition and fitness experts;
An online learning center with resources including relevant studies and helpful
literature;
· An online news center with the latest industry developments and events,
topical features, and success stories; and
· An online community center to allow parents and industry experts to
communicate about issues concerning child nutrition, health and fitness, which
includes online meetings, discussion boards, chat rooms, surveys, and other
interactive tools.
“We know that childhood obesity commonly leads to adult obesity, along
with all the medical, social, and emotional problems that implies,” said
David Humble, CEO of eDiets.com. “This campaign is designed to give parents
access to the information and contacts they need with online programs, tools,
information, expert guidance and other resources, so that they can help improve
and maintain the dietary health and physical fitness of their children. This
is as important an initiative as we’ve ever launched, and we look forward
to seeing it help bring about fundamental changes so desperately needed among
our nation’s youth.”
According to eDiets.com’s recent survey, our kids’ bad habits are
apparently driven, in part, by a lack of knowledge about the dangers. When respondents
were asked how much their children know about nutrition and fitness, most parents
confirmed that there’s a lot of room for improvement—43% claimed
that “they have a few healthy habits, but I still worry,” and 31%
said that although “they do have some basic knowledge, it doesn’t
seem to matter.” In addition, families as a whole tend to ignore healthy
living. The top three evaluations indicated that “it’s not a priority
for any of us” (25%), “we used to have better habits, but over time
we’ve all gotten lazy” (17%), and “it leaves much to be desired”
(14%).
About eDiets.com
eDiets.com is a premier one-stop online diet and healthy living destination
offering professional advice, information, products and services to consumers
seeking to improve their nutrition and fitness, live healthier, and live longer.
As of June 30, 2004, over 1.6 million consumers worldwide have become eDiets.com
members since 1997. Throughout 2004, Nielsen//NetRatings ranked eDiets.com as
the #1 Most Trafficked Health, Fitness & Nutrition Site, Forbes named eDiets.com
“Best of the Web” in the diet and nutrition category and PC Magazine
selected eDiets.com for its “Editors’ Choice” award.
eDiets.com offers 20 personalized online programs including the Atkins Nutritional
Approach™, The Zone Perfect Nutrition Plan, The Slim·Fast®
Plan, Trim Kids, the eDiets.com Alternative to Jenny Craig, and more than a
dozen specialized Healthy Living programs for those with special needs, including
the “Living With Type 2 Diabetes” plan offered in partnership with
Bristol Myers Squibb’s ChoiceDM™ brand. The revolutionary “eDiets.com|SolutionsSM”
program gives all dieters, regardless of their chosen program with eDiets.com
or otherwise, support to help them succeed with exclusive access to its wide
range of award-winning expert and peer-based online support services, including
Online/Anytime MeetingsSM that provide on-demand expert guidance and inspiration
in a streaming video format.
Dieting is a $30 billion market with established brands such as Jenny Craig®,
Weight Watchers® and several regional brands. Founded in 1996, eDiets.com
is a public company (NASDAQ:DIET) headquartered in Deerfield Beach, FL. that
operates Web sites at www.eDiets.com and www.eFitness.com, and publishes and
distributes one of the Internet’s leading electronic newsletters with
an opt-in circulation base of over 13 million subscribers. eDiets.com also owns
eDiets Europe Ltd. (“eDiets Europe”) which operates www.eDietsUK.com
in Ireland and the United Kingdom, www.eDiets.de in Germany, and www.eDiets.com.es
in Spain. eDiets Europe has also entered into an exclusive licensing agreement
with Tesco.com, the world’s largest online grocer and a wholly owned subsidiary
of Tesco plc (LSE: TSCO), to use eDiets.com’s personalized diet technology
in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
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