Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 54, Issue 3, June 2010, Pages 599-602
Appetite

Short communication
How to promote fruit consumption in children. Visual appeal versus restriction

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.02.012Get rights and content

Abstract

The prevalence of overweight is increasing dramatically in children. A protective factor against the development of overweight is a sufficient intake of fruit and vegetables. However, the consumption of fruit and vegetables in children is far from ideal these days. Therefore, it is important to examine how the intake of fruit and vegetables can be promoted. In this study, the effects of two fruit promoting techniques were evaluated in 4–7-year-old children: presenting fruit in a more visually appealing manner versus restricting the intake of fruit. Two presentations of fruit (regular and visually appealing) were offered to the participants. In a first taste session participants were either allowed to eat from both fruit presentations (no-prohibition group) or prohibited from eating one of the two presentations (regular fruit prohibited group/visually appealing fruit prohibited group). In a second taste session all participants were allowed to eat from both fruit presentations. The results indicated that visual appeal had a strong effect on consumption of the fruit. With respect to restriction, no effects were found. Parents, schools, supermarkets and food producers should take advantage of these results, and offer children fruit and vegetables that are presented in a visually appealing manner.

Introduction

Obesity and overweight are sizeable health threats. Among children, the prevalence of weight problems has increased to exceptional proportions. Currently, one out of seven Dutch children is overweight (van den Hurk et al., 2006) whereas 3% of the Dutch children are obese. These numbers are alarming in light of the grave consequences of overweight and obesity. Besides genetic factors, environmental factors play a key role in the development of obesity. In our modern western society we are constantly surrounded by unlimited amounts of unhealthy kinds of food in all varieties and, above all, vast portions. In addition, physical exercise is not promoted. This so-called ‘obesogenic’ environment is put forward as a major factor in the development of obesity (Guerrieri, 2005). Besides the influence of our current society, children's eating behaviours are strongly affected by their parents. Parents do not only serve as role models for their offspring (Brown & Ogden, 2004), they are also responsible for purchasing groceries and doing most of the cooking. On top of that, parents influence their children's food preferences and intake by using control techniques like restriction of intake and pressure to eat (Birch et al., 2001).

In order to tackle the obesity problem it is not only important to put the brakes on unhealthy eating behaviours, but also to promote healthy eating behaviours, like fruit and vegetable intake. Fruit and vegetables have positive influences on our health. For instance with respect to the prevention of cardiovascular disease, the beneficial effect of fruit intake has been proven (Hung et al., 2004). In addition, fruit also protects against overweight (Epstein et al., 2001, McCrory et al., 1999, Roblin, 2007). Therefore, it seems self-evident to examine how their intake can be increased. Current food patterns indicate that children do not consume enough fruit and vegetables. Even though the Dutch National Food Council recommends that children eat at least two portions of fruit a day (Health-Council-of-the-Netherlands, 2002), Dutch children eat in fact less than one portion of fruit a day on average (Dutch Food Consumption Survey, 1998).

Now, the crucial question is how to encourage children to eat more fruit. For many parents, a chosen method seems to be pressuring their children to eat them. However, previous research has demonstrated that pressuring children to eat healthy foods results in adverse effects: children in fact eat less fruit and vegetables when they are forced to eat them. In addition they may become picky eaters (Galloway, Fiorito, Lee, & Birch, 2005).

When we take a closer look at the attractiveness of sweets again, children's strong attraction to sweets might partly result from the fact that the intake of sweets is often restricted. Earlier research has already shown that not only the restriction of sweets leads to higher intake in children (Jansen, Mulkens, & Jansen, 2007), the restriction of fruit yields similar effects (Jansen, Mulkens, Emond, & Jansen, 2008). In this latter study, the intake of either fruit or sweets was prohibited during a first taste session. A third (control) group received no prohibition during this first taste session. In a second taste session, the prohibitions were removed, and all participants could eat both sweets and fruit. It was found that both the restriction of sweets and fruit during the first taste session led to an increase in intake of the respective forbidden food during the second taste session, as opposed to the control group. Therefore, prohibiting the intake of fruit was one of the promotion techniques that were examined during the current study. It was hypothesized that children would eat more fruit when the taste session had been preceded by a prohibition to eat the presented fruit.

Next, availability (whether the food is present) and accessibility (e.g. form) of fruit were found to facilitate its consumption (Hearn et al., 1998). Bönnhoff, Eissing, Baumann, and Kuß (2002) examined whether the accessibility of fruit and vegetables could increase the intake in children. They presented children with different kinds of fruit and vegetables (apples, bananas and carrots) in two different forms: the control group received whole raw and washed fruit and vegetables; the experimental group received cut up pieces of the same fruit and vegetables. It was found that children in the experimental group ate almost twice as much fruit and vegetables as opposed to children in the control group. It was concluded that children will eat more fruit and vegetables if these are easier to consume.

Visual appeal falls outside the scope of accessibility, but is expected to influence consumption positively as well. For instance, the majority of all sweets are visually appealing, for example by their colour or shape. Fruit consumption in children is expected to increase when the presented fruit is made more visually appealing. The second promotion technique that was examined in the current study therefore was manipulating the visual appeal of fruit. Finally, an interaction between restriction and visual attractiveness was expected. That is, it was hypothesized that the largest increase in fruit consumption would occur in the group were the visually appealing fruit was prohibited before.

Section snippets

Participants

Ninety-four children were recruited from six primary schools in The Netherlands and Belgium. Parents of children in primary school were approached by means of a letter and invited to let their children participate in the current study. Participants were told that the experimenter was interested in what kind of fruit children like. The participating children were 4–7-year olds (mean age = 5.48, SD = .58). In this age group, minimal social desirable behaviour concerning eating was expected. In

Results

Data for all 94 children were used in the reported analyses.1 One way ANOVAs showed no group differences with respect to desire, tastiness and satiety ratings before phase 1.

Hypothesis 1

Children in the ‘regular fruit prohibition group’ will show an increased desire for the regular fruit

Discussion

The aim of the current study was to examine how fruit consumption in children may be increased. Two different promotion techniques were evaluated: prohibiting the fruit prior to the actual intake and presenting fruit in a more visually appealing manner. To this end, ninety-four 4–7-year-old children participated in a taste experiment in which they were either prohibited from eating regular fruit, prohibited from eating visually appealing fruit or not prohibited at all. A second taste session

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The authors would like to thank Tessa van den Bergh, Jeanette Bisschops, Goele Bollen, Andrea Klefoth, Sanne Peeters, Lieze Poesen, Felix Sion and Shabnam Sippas for their help in data acquisition.

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