Sunday Times 2
Don’t tell children vegetables are healthy
Telling children that carrots help you to see in the dark has been encouraging them to eat healthily for generations – or so parents thought.
But according to research, these messages have the opposite effect – if you tell children a food is good for them, they are less likely to eat it.
Researchers believe encouraging children to eat healthily could have the opposite effect. Pictured a Penguin made from eggplant and carrots (AFP)
Scientists read a story to children aged between three and five about a girl who ate a snack of crackers or carrots.
The first group was told the snack made her strong or helped her learn to count, while the second was not told of any benefits.
The children were then offered the snack.
Those who were not given messages about the particular food ate more of it, found the researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois.
This is because the information gives the idea that if something is healthy, it must taste bad – and so it’s better to simply serve the food without comment.
Study co-author Michal Maimaran of Northwestern University, Illinois, said: ‘We predicted that when food is presented to children as making them strong or as a tool to achieve a goal such as learning how to read or count, they would conclude the food is not as tasty and therefore consume less of it.’
The authors said companies promoting food items to parents and children can use these results to ‘de-emphasise’ the benefits of healthy food and focus more on the positive experience of eating the food.
The results may also help health experts looking to combat childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.
The authors concluded: ‘Parents who are struggling to get children to eat healthier may be better off simply serving the food without saying anything about it or just emphasiaing how yummy the food actually is.’
© Daily Mail, London