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To gives kids a taste for vegies
Struggling to encourage the children in your service to eat their vegetables? According to new research from the University of Leeds the key is to offer infants a wide range of vegies early in life and encourage them to eat more of them, rather than focusing on older kids.
The research, led by Professor Marion Hetherington in the Institute of Psychological Sciences, also found that even fussy eaters are able to eat a bit more of a new vegetable each time they are offered it.
The research, involving babies and children from the UK, France and Denmark, also dispelled the popular myth that vegetable tastes need to be masked or given by stealth in order for children to eat them.
Professor Hetherington said there is valuable information to be gained from the research:
"If you want to encourage children to eat vegetables, make sure you start early and often. Even if a child is fussy or does not like vegies, our study shows that 5-10 exposures will do the trick."
In the study, which was funded by the EU, the research team gave artichoke puree to 332 children from three countries aged from weaning age to 38 months.
During the experiment each child was given between five and 10 servings of at least 100g of the artichoke puree in one of three versions: basic; sweetened, with added sugar; or added energy, where vegetable oil was mixed into the puree.
There was also little difference in the amounts eaten over time between those who were fed basic puree and those who ate the sweetened puree, which suggests that making vegetables sweeter does not make a significant difference to the amount children eat.
Younger children consumed more artichoke than older children. This is because after 24 months children become reluctant to try new things and start to reject foods – even those they previously liked.
Among the children, four distinct groups emerged. Most children (40 per cent) were "learners" who increased intake over time. Of the group, 21 per cent consumed more than 75 per cent of what was offered each time and they were called "plate-clearers".
Those who ate less than 10g even by the fifth helping were classified as "non-eaters", amounting to 16 per cent of the cohort, and the remainder were classified as "others" (23 per cent) since their pattern of intake varied over time. Non-eaters, who tended to be older pre-school children, were the most fussy, the research found.
Globe artichoke was chosen as the sample vegetable because, as part of the research, parents were surveyed and artichoke was one of the least-offered vegetables.
Read more about the study. |
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