Eat Your Vegetables – Listen to Your Mother

(Newswire.net — June 6, 2014) Portland, OR — A research study conducted by the University of Leeds concluded that children learned to eat new vegetables before the age of two if introduced regularly and early.

Not only that but fussy eaters can be encouraged to eat more greens if they had been offered between five and ten times.

The study group consisted of 332 children between four and thirty eight months in the UK, France and Denmark.

The study vegetable … artichokes!

Definitely not everybody’s favorite vegetable but I do like a good artichoke dip. Excuse me while I drool.

Why artichoke?

Because parents said it was one vegetable they were the least likely to cook.

The surprising results showed that 20% of kids cleaned their plates and 40% even learned to like artichokes.

However after the children reached 24 months, getting them to try new foods was near impossible. No surprise there.

Another surprising conclusion was that the vegetable flavor did not need to be masked by anything else in order for the child to eat it. Each child was given between five and 10 servings of at least 100g (4 ounces) of artichoke puree (yummy).

The puree was either served straight or sweetened with added sugar.

The researchers found there was almost no difference in the amount eaten over time between those who were fed the basic puree and those who had the sweetened one.

Overall, the research indicated that younger children ate more artichoke than older children.

Prof Marion Hetherington said this was because children become picky and wary at a certain age.

“If they are under two they will eat new vegetables because they tend to be willing and open to new experiences.

“After 24 months, children become reluctant to try new things and start to reject foods – even those they previously liked.”

Moral of the story – get your children to eat vegetables early and they will continue as grow older.

 

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27635861