The Effects of Offering A Variety of Fruits And Vegetables On Children's Food Consumption During Snack Time
Open Access
- Author:
- Iiams, Erin Marie
- Area of Honors:
- Nutritional Sciences
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Barbara Jean Rolls, Thesis Supervisor
Rebecca L Corwin, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- o Fruits o Vegetables o Children o Variety o Single-type o Intak
- Abstract:
- Background: Children ages 2-5 are consuming only 22% of their recommended intake for vegetables, and only 50% of their recommended intake for fruits. Because of taste preferences, the environment, or how the foods are presented, children can have variable intakes of fruits and vegetables. Therefore the goal of this study was to test whether increasing the numbers of options of fruit and vegetables provided would lead to increased intake. Objective: To observe the effects of offering a variety of fruits and vegetables on children’s intake of fruits and vegetables at snack time. Design: 61 preschool children ages 3-5 were used in the fruit and vegetable study conducted at the Bennett Family Daycare Center on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University. Eight times during 4 weeks children were observed in 4 different classrooms in order to test how they would respond to being offered a variety of fruits and vegetables or a single-type of fruit or vegetable. At four of the snacks vegetables were served, 3 times a single vegetable was served (cucumber, sweet pepper, or tomato), and one time a variety of all three vegetables was offered. Likewise there were four snacks that served fruit, three of the four times a single fruit was offered (apple, peach, or pineapple), and one time a variety of all three fruits was served. Both selection and intake were observed in each condition, as well as between fruit and vegetable choices in the variety and single-type conditions. Results: When the variety and single-type conditions were compared to one another, the variety conditions resulted in an increase in consumption of fruits and vegetables. Throughout all vegetable and fruit snacks it was found that the children ate a mean of 7.7 ± 0.5 pieces at the variety condition snacks and 4.6 ± 0.2 pieces at the single-type condition snacks. When a variety of types were served an average increase in intake of 3.1 pieces (67%) resulted. The level of increase in the fruit and vegetable variety conditions however did not significantly differ from one another. Consumption did differ between fruits and vegetables overall because kids chose greater amounts of fruits during snack time when compared to the amounts of vegetables consumed. 52% of the children ate some vegetable pieces while 85% ate some fruit pieces. Conclusion: Increasing the variety of fruits and vegetables offered at snack time can increase selection and intake among children.