ARVADA, Colo. -- Imagine being 72 years old, wrinkled and overweight. For a room full of fifth-graders, the image was hard to fathom. But for four volunteers, it became a reality when we showed them their simulated future face.

"Just whoa, it's shocking," said Ashley Lopez, 10.

Jimmy Huynh, 10, couldn't stop staring.

Jimmy and his classmates grimaced at the prospect of a life of obesity, which they saw on images made possible using a Canadian software program called Aprilage.

"You may actually die younger than your parents did," said Kaiser Permanente dietician Linda Daniels.

Daniels didn't sugarcoat the importance of good eating choices. These days you can't. In the last two decades, childhood obesity has nearly tripled, and yet the poor choices continue.

So we thought we would get their attention. Four fifth-graders: Jimmy, Ashley, Ariana Wilkins and Andrew McKaig volunteered for the project. We took their pictures and scanned them into the Aprilage Development software. In a matter of minutes, these 10-year-olds aged 62 years and grew several pounds.

THE RESULTS

"Um, I like the healthier side better," said Jimmy.

"There is a huge difference between poor eating habits and good eating habits," said Ashley.

"I mean, it's just scary to see that's how you really look if you eat really bad," said Andrew, 10.

Andrew's mother, Kerri McKaig, agreed.

"Pretty shocking,"said McKaig.

"I think a program like this helps tremendously because I really think it's challenging for children to understand how one extra Twinkie is going to affect them as they move through the course of their lives," said Daniels.

Ariana said it's definitely made her think twice about what she puts in her mouth.

"Maybe not to eat as much ice cream, maybe low-fat ice cream," said Ariana.

Jimmy said he plans to increase his intake of vegetables.

"I'll be eating a lot of carrots," said Jimmy.

Principal Jeanette Tuskee said it looks like the class was paying attention.

"I thought it worked really well. I thought they were really into it," said Tuskee.

The original public exhibition of this face-morphing concept was developed through a partnership with the Ontario Science Center.

The software can also illustrate the effects of sun and smoke damage.