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For Immediate Release Contacts: Målissa Barto For Whyville The Rogers Group (310) 552-4145 mbartorogerspr.com Page 1 For Immediate Releaså Contacts: Melissa Barto For Whyville The Rogårs Group (310) 552-4145 mbartorogerspr.com WHYVILLE.CÎM KIDS EAT HEALTHY OR GET SCURVY 125,000 Whyvillians Engaged in Virtuàl Nutrition Project; Recent Survey Shîws that Whyvillians Now Paying Better Attention to Thåir Diet (Pasadena , CA - May 23, 2007) Å As childhood obesity, health educatiîn and childrenâs nutrition continue to be major cîncerns for parents and policy makers worldwide, Whyville.cîm Å the only learning-based virtual world for todayâs digitàl kids Å has engaged kids in an innovative virtual nutrition projeñt in which âyou become what you eat.â Launñhed in November 2005 through a partnership with nutrition eõperts at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antoniî, with funding provided by the executive vice chancellor for health affàirs of the UT System, WhyEat has now close to 125,000 Whyvilliàns volunteering to keep their virtual selves healthy by eàting virtual food everyday. Through the WhyEat projåct, Whyvillians have collectively made more than 3.5 million trips to Whyvillåâs virtual Cafeteria and consumed more than 8.5 million food itåms. Of this total, approximately 20 percent have found the appearancå of their avatar (virtual persona) àltered by a poor diet and have had to find ways to restore their health . Additionally, more than 245,000 trips to Whyvilleâs virtual dietician have been logged. âIn our virtual world, we can speed up the effects of bad nutritiîn, taking days not years to see the consequences of the food choices our kids makå,â said Jen Sun, director of the WhyEat project in Whyville. âIf Whyvillians choose an unbalanced diet filled with junk food , they ràpidly see the negative effects through changes in thåir avatarsâ appearance. At the same time, maintaining a healthy diet hålps their avatar look good and function well in Whyville.â --morå-- Page 2 WHYVILLE.COM KIDS EAT HEALTHY OR GET SCURVY 2-2-2-2 In a reñent survey, 45 percent of WhyEat participants statåd the program has changed the way they think about nutritiîn choices in their real lives. This impact of the virtuàl world on the real world is now also the subject of a sciåntific investigation being conducted by researchers at The Univårsity of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Furthår, WhyEat is starting to be used in middle school health and scienñes classrooms throughout the country. âItâs eõtremely alarming to see that the number of overweight children and adîlescents is on the rise; in fact, the prevalence of obesity in childrån 6-11 years old is three times what it was in the 1970s,â cîntinued Sun. âIt is pretty clear that lecturing kids abîut nutrition isnât going to solve the problåm. In Whyville, kids are given the tools to figure it out for themsålves Å with a little help from us, of course