Ex-First Lady Obama is now working to improve kids’ health.
On Wednesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of PLEZi Nutrition, a new health-focused food and drink brand aimed at combating childhood obesity.
On Wednesday, Obama announced the launch of PLEZi at the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival, saying, “Our goal—to make products with real nutrition, to be an ally that parents can trust.” We hope to play a major role in making the next generation healthier for all kids.
The company’s first offering is a fruity drink available in various flavors that contains only 35 calories (as opposed to the average of 150 in sugary drinks). The beverage is currently sold in select locations of Target and Sprouts in the United States. The firm has aspirations to expand into the snack food market in the future years.
President Obama is a co-founder and strategic partner of PLEZi Nutrition, which will be managed by experts in public health, nutrition, and parenting.
Obama’s Let’s Move program encourages kids as young as two to get moving and eat better. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed in response to the campaign’s 2010 launch, increased funds for public school districts to promote healthier food options. To further his goal, Obama collaborated with major food producers to cut the calorie content of their products.
Unhealthy Foods Were Criticized
Obama noted, however, that even in the Oval Office, she encountered resistance to her efforts to improve children’s diets.
Obama said, “I’ve learned that if you want to change the game on this issue, you can’t just work from the outside—you’ve got to get inside.” You need to figure out how to alter the food and drink market as a whole.
She criticized companies that market unhealthy foods to youngsters by satisfying their demands for sugar and other bad elements.
Obama has remarked that businesses provide customers with “wants,” rather than “needs.”
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention report that roughly 20% of Americans younger than 19 are fat. Young children’s health is badly impacted by the widespread use of added sugar, which has been related to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
According to Obama, PLEZi Nutrition’s mission is to provide people with food that is high in fiber and potassium. However, success depends on young audiences returning for more.
Because “we really want kids to stop choosing soda and sugary drinks,” Obama said, “we’ve learned that innovation without great taste is meaningless.” The PLEZi drinks were created with the intention of altering the beverage habits of youngsters. An industry-wide tweak that promises big gains for children’s wellness.
We want to do something that matters more than making money,” Obama stated.
PLEZi Nutrition will be operated as a public benefit company, which is a business with a social mission and a for-profit business model.
I want other businesses to be prepared for PLEZi, and I want to dare every business to outdo us. “Out invent us,” Obama challenged. That’s how big an impact I want to make.
FAQs
Michelle Obama, the former first lady, has started a new business called PLEZi Nutrition. Its goal is to give parents “healthier, great-tasting products” for their kids to eat and drink.
Michelle is often self-assured, smart, and driven. Michelle is probably an independent thinker who wants to help fix the problems in the world.
