Researchers Help Provide Healthier Choices For Young Children In The Grocery Stores

Young children are likely to cry and even beg for candy and other treats, despite mom and dad's objections. Now, recent findings published in the journal Appetite reveal that there may be a simpler way to help children pick healthier choices.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health discovered that putting healthy foods at children's eye level will increase their chances of picking something that's better for the body and mind. Unfortunately, previous studies have shown that many food companies market items that may be high in sugar or fat in a way that engages children; this is especially true for certain types of cereals.

For this study, researchers worked on a project that was designed to encourage healthy food purchasing in low-income neighborhoods throughout Baltimore, Maryland. They found that many caregivers pressed by their children ended up products they did not intend to buy. Yet to counter the problem, caregivers suggested altering healthy food choices at the eye level of the child.

"Our study suggests that grocery shopping with children often can have negative consequences on the healthfulness of grocery purchases, but has the potential to have a positive influence instead," said Pamela J. Surkan, assistant professor in the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School, in a news release.

Researchers examined 62 adults from southwest Baltimore: 30 who participated in interviews and another 32 who participated in five focus groups. The participants were primarily low-income African American women who were caretakers of at least one child under age 16 and their household's primary food shopper. The study also included several store employees and the storeowner.

The grocery store in the study is a full-service store that bills itself as a low-price supermarket to attract local low-income shoppers. The store is located in a neighborhood that is surrounded by several areas considered to be food deserts, with limited availability of affordable healthy food.

Though study participants often said they caved into their children's requests, the researchers also recorded flat-out refusals, alternatives (for healthier options) and setting aside the coveted item on the sly.

"Child as change agent. The potential of children to increase healthy food purchasing," was written by Katherine Wingert, Drew A. Zachary, Monica Fox, Joel Gittelsohn and Pamela J. Surkan.

This work was funded by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future with a gift from the GRACE Communications Foundation.