Media Briefing: New Research Revealed: Lower-Calorie Foods and Beverages Fuel Growth at Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation Companies

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media briefing to review new research that reveals lower-calorie foods and beverages fueled growth at Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) companies. The distinguished panel will discuss what happened when sixteen of the largest food and beverage companies committed to reducing calories in a pledge to the Partnership for a Healthier America, with independent evaluation from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: developing new lower-calorie products, making them more available, packaging smaller portion sizes and changing product recipes.

The result: success was not only counted in increased sales, but in exceeding their goal of reducing 1.5 trillion calories from the marketplace by 400%.        

A study by Hudson Institute details how companies met consumer demand for lower-calorie foods by measuring over 52,000 foods and beverages on shelves in more than 40,000 retail and grocery stores across the country, comparing sales, distribution and promotional support of lower-calorie foods to higher calorie products.

WHO:            
Moderator: Lisa Gable, President, Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation

Panelists:

• Hank Cardello, Senior Fellow & Director, Obesity Solutions Initiative, Hudson Institute, and author, "Lower-Calorie Foods and Beverages Fuel Growth at Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation Companies"
• Dr. Tracy Orleans, Senior Program Officer/Senior Scientist, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Derek Yach, Executive Director, Vitality Institute, Former SVP Global Health and    Agriculture at PepsiCo and Executive Director at WHO
• Ryan Shadrick Wilson, Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel, Partnership for a Healthier America

WHEN:          
October 2, 2014 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.                     

WHERE:       
National Press Club, Murrow/White/Lisagor rooms
529 14th Street, NW, 13th floor, Washington, DC 20045

CONTACTS:Carolyn Stewart, Hudson Institute
[email protected] or (202) 974-6456

ABOUT HUDSON INSTITUTE
Hudson Institute is an independent research organization promoting new ideas for the advancement of global security, prosperity, and freedom. Hudson's Obesity Solutions Initiative serves as a bridge to drive workable policies and solutions to the global obesity epidemic, giving consideration to the needs of all vested parties—corporations, the public health community, consumers and regulators.  For more information visit www.obesity-solutions.org.  

ABOUT HEALTHY WEIGHT COMMITMENT FOUNDATION
Celebrating its Five-Year Anniversary, the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF), formed in 2009, is a CEO-led organization whose national, multiyear effort is designed to help reduce obesity—especially childhood obesity.  In just five years, HWCF members have already removed 6.4 trillion calories from the marketplace, which represents a 78 calorie reduction per person, per day. It is a first-of-its–kind coalition that brings together more than 250 retailers, food and beverage manufacturers, restaurants, sporting goods and insurance companies, trade associations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and professional sports organizations. HWCF promotes ways to help people achieve a healthy weight through energy balance—calories in and calories out. It focuses its efforts on two critical areas—families and schools—through its Together Counts™ campaign which is used by over 15 million students across the country.

ABOUT THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION
For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve the health and health care of all Americans. The organization strives to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all Americans to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.

ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP FOR A HEALTHIER AMERICA
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation's youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation's most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit A Healthier America and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.

SOURCE Hudson Institute