Buffalo schools to offer prizes for eating healthy foods

Eat an apple, get a pen. Eat a bushel of apples, get a mountain bike.

That’s the idea behind a new program being launched in Buffalo, New York, to promote good nutrition among the city’s children.

The “Power Eater” program will offer weekly rewards to about 30-thousand students who eat fruits and vegetables during lunch in their school cafeterias.

Starting in January, small rewards such as pens and key chains will be given to students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade who have a piece of fruit or a vegetable at lunch at least one day that week.

Pupils who eat fruits or vegetables every school day will be eligible for drawings for mountain bikes, portable compact disc players or other prizes.

Provided by ArmMed Media
Revision date: July 7, 2011
Last revised: by Andrew G. Epstein, M.D.