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Game shows a healthy future

A new online game which aims to help children understand the long-term effects of a poor diet has been launched by the British Heart Foundation.

The Yoobot game lets children make mini-versions of themselves byuploading photographs and choosing their gender, hair colour and otherfeatures. They can then choose what food their character eats and theexercise that he or she does, and see how this affects his or herlifespan and well-being.

The Yoobots talk to their creators throughout the day using SMS ande-mail, complaining when they get hungry, asking for junk food andtrying to make themselves a part of their users' lives.

The launch of the Yoobot coincides with a survey of 1,100 children bythe British Heart Foundation which found that seven out of 10 childrenaged eight to 15 did not know that a shortened life was the worstconsequence of eating badly, and that 45 per cent thought that the mostdangerous side effects of junk food are weight gain, rotting teeth,spots or unpopularity.

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