APCOI – Portuguese Association Against Childhood Obesity will launch an augmented reality application (app) to encourage healthy eating among children.
The mobile educational game, which is being developed by ONTOP in conjunction with APCOI and financed by Novo Nordisk, will be available free of charge for iOS and Android smartphones until the end of the year.
According to the association, "the idea of this new project was born in the first months of the covid-19 pandemic as a result of the increase in the weight of children and young people, especially during periods of mandatory confinement."
Mário Silva, president of APCOI, reveals that «the app designed to measure by specialists combines various gamification techniques such as augmented reality, geocaching and collecting to lead Portuguese families to discover hidden superfoods and accumulate nutritional tips to win prizes, creating opportunities for learning and fun indoors and outdoors».
Nuno Folhadela, CEO of ONTOP, recalls the children's games from the time of parents, such as «collecting cards, playing with a top or with bowls», and describes that the experience of this app is about «adapting these sensations and fun to today and, above all, to the children of today. We are developing a real treasure hunt for Portugal in a technological and creative mix in augmented reality with the mission of promoting a healthy lifestyle and a happy childhood».
Helena Novais, director of Public Affairs at Novo Nordisk Portugal, says that “putting digital at the service of health is a critical strategy nowadays. We believe that combining the potential of new technologies with intervention models with such positive results as the “Heróis da Fruta” project will be a very important contribution to the prevention of overweight and childhood obesity in Portugal, a path that we support with great enthusiasm» .
The app is inspired by the Heróis da Fruta school program that APCOI has been promoting in schools since 2011 and whose 10th anniversary is already marked in October.
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