Abstract
Despite considerable epidemiological evidence of the health benefits of a diet high in fruit and vegetables, consumption in pre-school children remains well below recommended levels. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an exposure-based intervention, carried out by parents in the home, in increasing children's liking for a previously disliked vegetable. 156 parents of 2-6 year old children were randomly assigned to Exposure, Information or Control groups after a pre-intervention taste test at which a 'target' vegetable was selected. Parents in the Exposure group gave their child a taste of this vegetable daily for 14 days, parents in the Information group were given nutritional advice and a leaflet, and parents in the Control group received no further intervention. All participants took part in a post-intervention taste test. Greater increases in liking, ranking and consumption of the 'target' vegetable from pre- to post-intervention occurred in the Exposure group than in either of the other two groups. Only the Exposure group showed significant increases across all three outcomes. It can be concluded that a parent-led, exposure-based intervention involving daily tasting of a vegetable holds promise for improving children's acceptance of vegetables. These findings suggest a parental advice strategy which could be disseminated directly to parents or by health professionals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 155-62 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | APPETITE |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2003 |
Keywords
- Adult
- Child
- Child Behavior
- Child, Preschool
- Feeding Behavior
- Female
- Humans
- Male
- Parent-Child Relations
- Phobic Disorders
- Taste
- Vegetables