Brazilian Ministry of Social Development on Tuesday distributed 40 million educational textbooks to students at the 140,000 public elementary schools, in an effort to get the children into a good habit of diet.

The books are illustrated with characters from stories by Monteiro Lobato, the most popular Brazilian writer in children's literature history. In the textbooks, the characters will explain the risks of bad eating habits.

The head of the department for special projects, Marco Aurelio Loureiro, said people foster their eating habits during the childhood.

The main goal of the campaign is to tell children that it is very important for them to have a healthy diet in the future or even at present.

Loureiro also stressed that obesity is gradually becoming a major problem, especially among children and youngsters.

The Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE) reported that over the past 30 years, the number of obese children has increased 10 percent.

Source: Xinhua