'Natural Curiosity' Helps Children Learn to Love Fruits and Vegetables

Getting brussel sprouts and carrots to look like a McDonald's happy meal can seem like an impossible feat. In fact, for parents attempting to force feed their toddlers fruits and veggies, temper tantrums can cause healthy goodies to land on the floor and in the garbage.

Fortunately, psychological scientists Sarah Gripshover and Ellen Markman of Stanoford University hypothesized that preschoolers would be capable of understanding a more conceptual approach to nutrition that could, in turn, help them to consume a healthier diet that could potentially be carried out into adulthood. 

"Children have natural curiosity - they want to understand why and how things work," the researchers said, according to a press release. "Of course we need to simplify materials for young children, but oversimplification robs children of the opportunity to learn and advance their thinking."

The Association for Psychological Science states that these researchers have developed five storybooks aimed at revising and elaborating on what children already already know about different nutrition groups and enhancing that knowledge through dietary variety, digestion, food categories and microscopic nutrients.

To test the books in the classroom, researchers assigned some preschool to classrooms to read nutrition books during snack time for about 3 months, while other classrooms were assigned to conduct snack time as usual. Following the reading period, the preschoolers were asked questions regarding nutrition.

The study shows that the children who read the book were more likely to understand that food had nutrients and that different kinds of nutrients were better for the body.

"These children also more than doubled their voluntary intake of vegetables during snack time after the three-month intervention, whereas the amount that the control group ate stayed about the same," according to the release.

Researchers write that further studies need to be conducted in order to determine whether healthy eating habits outside of snack time show over long periods of time.

However, they conclude one thing for certain: "In the future, our conceptually-based educational materials could be combined with behaviorally-focused nutrition interventions with the hope of boosting healthy eating more than either technique alone."

More information regarding the study can be found in the APS journal Psychological Science.