Obesity in Children and Teens Helps Drive One Man's Crusade

YUBA CITY, Calif., Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- While most of us would like to be younger, few would want to relive childhood. Adults may endure the stresses of earning a living that young people don't have to worry about, but there are also major stresses in the process of growing up.

Some of these involve the consequences of eating poorly. Levels of obesity are rising sharply among the young, brought on by faulty diets. Two nonprofits, Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, recently found that the proportion of adults who are extremely obese has climbed over the last three decades to 6.3 percent, a 350 percent increase from the late 1970s. Their report also revealed that in addition to overweight adults, five percent of U.S. children and teenagers were also morbidly obese.

Healthcare entrepreneur and bioengineer Robert Brooke, the father of two young children and CEO of the agricultural biotechnology company Stevia First Corp., has decided to do something about it. In the face of rising obesity among young people and skyrocketing rates of Type 2 diabetes, he has embarked on a mission to help turn the tide of obesity and its many related sicknesses through reducing our dependence on sugar.

Driven by an intense interest in optimal health for all ages, including aging research and regenerative medicine, Brooke's experience as a healthcare analyst tells him the recent and mounting evidence against sugar is the tip of the iceberg. His outreach to local schools, combined with his own family experiences, have also shown him firsthand the tragedy associated with unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyles.   

Today Brook is leading Stevia First Corp. to implement new technologies that may encourage healthy consumption of sweeteners. The company is developing improved methods of producing stevia, the zero-calorie sweetener that is plant-derived and poised for mainstream acceptance.

Stevia First is taking the steps necessary to catalyze this action, beginning with creating a U.S. leaf supply, and involving proprietary methods of cultivation and fermentation. The company is also launching innovative consumer products that it believes are designed to combat sugar cravings and addiction. One example is SF Natural, a stevia tabletop sweetener that uses prebiotic fiber to help curb appetite, and that may challenge everyone to think about "natural" in a new way (hint: consuming ridiculous amounts of refined sugar is not natural).  

These products are a few examples of what may make Stevia First refreshing—a sweetener company that won't tell you that an endless supply of sweeteners, even their own, is good for you or your children. But it's obvious our society is hooked on sugar, and the big food companies are hooked on selling it to us. So what Stevia First offers—a solution that may help aid both problems—is undeniably in high demand.

For more information, visit www.steviafirst.com.

Media Contact: Laura Radocaj, Dian Griesel Int'l  212.825.3210

SOURCE Stevia First