Kids Can Like Fruits and Vegetables

Getting kids to eat their vegetables may be easier than we think. Yes, even squash.

In a recent study (find the press release here), university researchers successfully tested new educational techniques aimed at increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables they eat. For more, we talk with Dr. Bonnie Braun, who head the team in the study, and Kate Riera, a doctoral student who assisted.

The Healthy Turtle: What was the aim of the study?

Kate Riera: We examined the relationship between children's fruit and vegetable consumption and their taste preference for FV (fruits and vegetables), as well as the influence of an elementary school intervention designed to increase FV consumption on that relationship between consumption and taste preference.

HT: What did you find?

Dr. Bonnie Braun: By making it “fun” to eat vegetables, showing students many different ways to prepare them, and allowing kids to test them repeatedly, kids will actually increase the number of vital fruits and vegetables they eat per day.

HT: Why is it important for children to eat more fruits and vegetables?

Riera: As data analysis of Project FRESH shows, the majority of children are not currently hitting this target of 5 or more FV a day. Eating the recommended five or more fruits and vegetables has been associated with numerous health benefits, including decreasing the risk of obesity, chronic diseases and some forms of cancer. It has a huge impact on children's health now as well as their future health as adults.

HT: Was their one particular fruit or vegetable that had surprising success?

Dr. Braun: Yes! I was most excited about the success of the squash family. In one class, students were given small muffins that they thoroughly enjoyed, and only afterwards were they told that the muffins were made with squash.

During a Farmer’s Market event at the end of one of the study’s programs, I had a mother come up to me and confess that she had no idea how to prepare the eggplant that her daughter had chosen, saying that she thought that her mother might have once cooked with them. In this way, you can see how changing how children see fruits and vegetables can influence how the entire family eats.

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Dr. Bonnie Braun is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health’s Department of Family Science. Kate Riera, M.S.E., is a third year doctoral student in the Department of Family Science.