The team at the University of Wales, Bangor that devised the Food Dudes programme is confident that a new gang of four can persuade children to be more active, as well as eating more fruit and vegetables.
The Food Dudes quartet, created by the university's School of Psychology after experts found that children's eating habits were primarily influenced by what their friends and peers were eating, has already encouraged thousands of primary school children to eat more fruit and vegetables, with their battles to save the life force from their arch enemy.
At a symposium in Cardiff yesterday, Charlotte Hardman, Food Dudes research officer said the ultimate aim was to create a Fit Food Dudes programme to marry the two aims of a healthy diet and exercise.
"We feel this programme could be used by schools throughout Wales in preventing childhood obesity. We've shown that the programmes have a large and long-lasting impact on children's food consumption and physical activity," she said.
The Food Dudes characters were designed as positive role models, who through their adventures would encourage children to taste fruit and vegetables, by making them "cool". The characters are carrot-loving Charlie, Rocco who likes broccoli, Raz, whose favourite fruit is raspberries and tomato-eating Tom.
Videos, which are shown in primary schools during a 16-day intervention, show the characters gaining their strength to fight off General Junk by eating fruit and vegetables.
The children are given daily rewards for trying and eating fruit and vegetables and also receive letters of encouragement from the characters. After the 16-day intensive course, the schools run an indefinite maintenance programme to foster a culture of change in eating habits.
Hardman said the team had seen a massive improvement in the amount of fruit and vegetables eaten. Research at a primary school in Salford revealed that children were eating less than 10 per cent of servings of broccoli, peas, green beans and pears before the Food Dudes programme was introduced. Afterwards they were eating two-thirds more of each serving - there was a seven-fold increase in the amount of peas eaten by pupils.
Harman said: "Simply making fruit and vegetables available to schoolchildren doesn't mean that they will eat them. It seems that schools need something like Food Dudes to encourage children to taste the foods and then eat them.
"In all the schools Food Dudes has been implemented we have had positive feedback from children and the teachers. The teachers also reported unexpected benefits in other areas, including improved behaviour and attendance."
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