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Schmidtke, Skylar

University of British Columbia

Exposure to fruits and vegetables at a young age is important for developing a healthy palate and encouraging good dietary habits later in life. Nevertheless, the responsibility of promoting positive dietary behaviours falls to the caregivers who must compete with the allure of highly-processed food items. Preliminary findings suggest that modifying fruit and vegetables to resemble fun shapes and designs can be an effective method for encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption. However, more research is needed to validate this technique in a home-based environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of food modification on the consumption, mood and liking of fruits and vegetables in children. A total of 43 children between the ages of 8-12 years participated in the study. Caregivers were asked to prepare either a visually appealing or standard snack. Children in the kid-friendly condition (n = 22) consumed a visually appealing snack. Whereas children in the non-creative condition (n = 21) consumed a standard snack. Results suggest that the presentation of the snack has no influence on intake, mood and liking of fruits and vegetables in children 8-12 years of age. However, more research is needed to better understand the influence of food modification on fruit and vegetable consumption.

Text

2021-09-29

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/79803

Health and Exercise Sciences

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/