Update: United States: The company, Dr Pepper Snapple Group balances Profit & Corporate Social Responsibility by encouraging active lifestyles and fitness by community partnership to get kids and families active nationwide through a three-year, $15 million grant that will fix 528 playgrounds to give 1.3 million children access to play spaces. Plus, the company's Recycling Program generated $1.3 million in revenue

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Updates Progress toward Environmental and Social Performance Goals in 2012 Sustainability Report - MarketWatch: "- Filling 42 percent of its innovation pipeline in 2011 with projects focused on reduced calories, smaller portion sizes and improved nutrition. This puts the company only 8 percentage points away from reaching its 2015 goal to have half of its innovation projects focused on health & wellness.

-- Replacing 33,000 out of 60,000 older vending machines and cooling units to be converted by 2015. Each new unit is up to 30 percent more efficient than the older one it replaced.

-- Saving $25 million in costs and 31 million pounds of PET (plastic) through the light-weighting of packaging since 2007.

-- Contributing more than 55,000 volunteer hours to philanthropic activities -- more than halfway to its 2015 goal of 100,000 total volunteer hours."

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Update: AFRICA: Ghana: Chiropractic& Wellness Centers (CWC) invested $120,000 on new five insight discovery subluxation stations, also known as NASA scan station used to scan and evaluate human nervous system to get to root causes of all sicknesses and diseases

allAfrica.com: Ghana: CWC Invests U.S.$120,000 On New Insight Discovery: "The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of the Chiropractic and Wellness Centers, Dr Marcus Manns told journalists at the East Legon branch of the centres over the weekend that they have installed the NASA certified space technology in Ghana to help improve lives of business executives among others. Explaining the work of the state-of-the-art facility which is the first of its kind in West Africa, Dr Manns said "The insight discovery objectively evaluates patterns of spinal and nerve function. It is completely safe, painless, non-invasive and scientifically sound". CWC uses two distinct types of advanced spinal technology to help best serve their practice members (PMs), he added. According to him, the surface EMG exam evaluates the function of the muscles that support the spine. These muscles are controlled by nerves. This test shows the pattern of how energy is distributed through these muscles."

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Update: EUROPE: Germany: Market move from Reactive to Proactive as consumers seek functional foods. Instead of only taking interest when a person is sick, consumers now seek products that prevent illness and provide nutritional value to whatever nutritional challenge they currently face or will face later in life.

2012 NuW Excellence Awards Judging Panel & Categories Announced - MarketWatch: "The judging panel, which traditionally represents key figures within the food industry, consists of: Peter Wennstrom, Chairman of Judges, Healthy Marketing; Kip Winter-Cox, Head of Marketing, Bakkavor Food Ltd; Bart Fischer, Manager Product Innovation, Albert Heijn; Elodie Lebastard, Director, EAS; Georges Bruelle, Prospective Manager, Danone; Albert Zwijgers, Senior Food Technologist, Unilever; John Madden, Head of Ingredients Research, Euromonitor; Ian Gordon, Chairman, Giract; Kamel Chida, Associate Director Open Innovation, General Mills; Michael Knowles, Coca Cola; Marie-Pierre Membrives, McDonald's."

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Update ASIA: THAILAND heightened Focus on promoting Niche Tourism offerings in view of dampened demand from longhaul markets affected by the global economic slowdown. Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor, Suraphon Svetasreni, said: “ This year, TAT is refocusing our strategies to attract a greater number of niche-market visitors seeking holidays and experiences more in tune with their personal preferences and lifestyles. Four of the key niche markets that offer considerable potential are golf, weddings & honeymoons, ecotourism, and health & wellness

TTG Asia - Leader in Hotel, Airlines, Tourism and Travel Trade News - Niche tourism takes centrestage in Thailand: ""The weddings and honeymoons category alone offers tremendous opportunities for Thai tourism operators – at present, India, South Korea, Japan, France, the US and the UAE are rapidly-growing source markets for those who want to get married or celebrate their union in Thailand." Suraphon added: "Niche markets are the way of the future. They provide many new opportunities for doing business with the growing number of specialist travel (consultants), while also feeding business to the increasing number of Thai product suppliers in each of these niche markets.” Andrew Jacka, director, Spa Origins and president, Thai Spa Association, said: “Thailand, with its traditionally strong family units and long history of nurturing and caring, is well suited to be a player in the health and wellness industry.” “The country offers both preventive and curative therapies and treatments; and when all is said and done, Thailand is the perfect place for post-treatment convalescence and recovery.”"

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Wellness Tip: Enjoy Aging as You Exercise: Survey Results cite walking as favorite physical activity of many centenarians. They do exercises to strengthen their muscles & the 100-year-olds also get creative as they practice yoga, Tai Chi or another form of mind/body/spirit activity; ride a bike regularly; jog; and engage in sports like baseball, basketball, soccer or tennis

Annual Survey Finds More Than Half of 100-Year-Olds Are Exercising Nearly Every Day | Business Wire: "“Some people have the perception that the oldest members of our society sit alone in a nursing home all day, but this year’s UnitedHealthcare 100@100 survey findings suggest that getting older doesn’t necessarily mean becoming less socially active,” said Dr. Rhonda Randall, chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement, the nation’s largest business dedicated to the health and well-being needs of seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries. “While genetics and maintaining a healthy body are important factors in living well into the 100s, this year’s survey participants have shown that staying socially engaged is just as important to healthy aging.” So what can boomers look forward to as they progress toward their 100th birthday? A healthier diet and more rest – 100-year-olds are outperforming boomers on consistently eating nutritiously balanced meals (81 percent vs. 68 percent) and getting eight hours or more of sleep per night (71 percent vs. 38 percent)."

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Alternative Energy Update: Biomass: Market value of electricity generated from biomass in the US is increasing to $53 billion by 2020 to approx. $45 billion in 2010. Biomass power generation consumes more than 100 million tons/yr. of fuel, virtually all of which is waste or residue material that requires some form of treatment and disposal

Cleantech Provides Details on Building Additional Power Plants to Globally Compete in 45 Billion Dollar Biomass Market - Energy Digital: ""As they say, where focus goes energy flows, and our strong commitment to building, implementing and operating the biomass power plants will give Cleantech the potential to develop into a significant player in the field of alternative energy," said President and CEO of Cleantech Transit Inc. Kenneth Bosket. Cleantech Transit, Inc.mandate is to create opportunities utilizing advances in technology and manufacturing processes in order to develop significant market share in the alternative clean energy sector."

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