Encouraging children to eat their veges!

Many parents struggle to get their children to eat  vegetables. The Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (1) found only 25% of children aged 2-8 years eat the recommended 2-4 serves of vegetables per day. For those aged 9-16 years, only 1-11% are meeting recommended intakes. A Dutch study has looked at whether giving children a choice of vegetables at mealtimes increases their liking and intake of vegetables compared to when given no choice (2) . 

303 children aged 4-6 years and their parents participated in the study where they were provided with their evening meal in a restaurant setting. Prior to the meal, each childs vegetable preferences were determined and ranked on a liking scale of 1 ot 8. Those vegetables ranked 3 and 4 were the target vegetables. These vegetables were to be served as part of a standard meal which included meat and a liked starchy vegetable such as potato. The children were randomly assigned to 3 different groups. Before the meal all children were shown the 2 target vegetables that could be included in the meal.  The first group was told which vegetables they would be given ( no choice); the 2nd group was asked which vegetables they would like ( pre-meal choice); and the 3rd group was told that both vegetables would be served and they could eat both if liked ( at meal choice). The meal was then served to the children. Parents also received the same meal as the child but with a larger portion.

The amount of vegetable eaten and the liking for the vegetables served did not vary between the groups. However, children really liked being offered a choice especially at the premeal stage. This particularly appealed to those children who resisted control or disliked being told what they had to eat. The choice strategy may be more effective in increasing vegetable consumption in the home setting over a repeated and longer period of time, than in the restaurant study environment. Parents at home can provide encouragement, understanding and reasons for the child to eat the vegetables on offer.

Other strategies often given to parents to encourage children to eat their veges include disguising them in various liked dishes; serving them in different ways - with cheese sauce, as stir frys; giving as a juice/smoothy; offering them raw or blanched as finger foods; growing vegetables in the garden or pot and getting children to help prepare them. Parents also need to set an example and eat vegetables. Children need to be consistently offered vegetables, even if at first rejected - it may take  5-20 trys before a new food or vegetable is accepted (3).

Vegetables are a nutritionally important part of  a child's (and adult's) diet. The International LIfe Sciences Institute (ILSI) recently ran a seminar on Vegetable Nutrition titled Why your Mum was right when she told you to eat your vegetables! A summary of the seminar can be found at www.ilsisea.org.sg/news/

References.

1. Department of Health and Aging . Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey 2007 www.health.gov.au/nutritionmonitoring

2. Zeinstra GG, Renes RJ et al. Offering choice and its effect on Dutch children's liking and consumption of vegetables: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2010;91:349-56

3. Ellyn Satter. How Children Learn to Like New Food. www.ellynsatter.com