My sons, aged two and four, are finicky eaters. When offered certain vegetables, they reject them completely or mournfully pick at their plates. The nutritional recommendation from the US (MyPlate.gov) is for children to fill at least half their plates with vegetables and fruits. But I've found that's not easy to do, and studies show that it's tough for many families, too.
According to a study this year by researchers at Chinese University and the Health Department, only 40 per cent of children aged one to four meet government recommendations for eating vegetables, and as they get older, the numbers get worse. Another study found that fewer than 10 per cent of children aged 10 to 16 met the guidelines of five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
So what's the trick to getting youngsters to eat healthily? Research suggests mothers start sensitising children to foods while in the womb. Since some flavours can cross into the amniotic fluid, it appears what a mother eats during her pregnancy can someday influence her child's food preferences.
I ate lots of fruits and vegetables during pregnancy. In fact, I had cravings for mangoes and was a record spinach eater. Sadly, this prenatal sensitisation was not enough to do the trick in our home. Using fun, catchy names for fruits and vegetables may help persuade children to eat them.
Researchers at Cornell University tested the likelihood that students would eat foods called "Silly Dilly Green Beans" and "Power Punch Broccoli" over the same foods named "Food of the Day."
The results were impressive. At one school, nearly twice the amount of carrots were eaten when labelled "X-Ray Vision Carrots". Unfortunately, my boys were somewhat immune to the enticement though they found the names of the vegetables amusing.
