Simple question gets school children to eat fruit
Last Updated Aug 2007
Last Updated: 2007-03-20 10:32:38 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Getting children to eat more fruit may be as simple as
getting cafeteria workers to use a simple verbal prompt in the lunch line, a study
of school lunch programs suggests.
The study found that when cafeteria workers asked elementary school children if
they wanted fruit or juice with their lunch, the children usually took one or the
other. More importantly, most of the children actually consumed it.
Dr. Marlene B. Schwartz of the Yale University Department of Psychology in New
Haven, Connecticut, reports the findings in the International Journal of Behavioral
Nutrition and Physical Activity.
In recent years, critics have charged that "a la carte" options in school
cafeterias -- which often include junk foods -- compete with the traditional school
lunch, causing kids to choose nutritionally dubious fare over a more balanced meal.
But a traditional school lunch involves some choice as well. The federal
government's National School Lunch Program requires participating schools to offer
foods that meet nutritional guidelines, which includes offering each of several
components: a meat or meat substitute; milk; grains and breads; and fruits and
vegetables.
However, children only have to choose three of these components, which means they
can avoid fruits and vegetables altogether.
In the current study, one Connecticut elementary school tried a simple intervention
to encourage students to choose fruit: they had cafeteria staff ask each
child: "Would you like fruit or juice with your lunch?"
The students' lunchtime fruit intake was compared with that of children at
a "control" school in the same district, where the same amount of fruit and fruit
juice was available but presented in the standard, question-free manner.
Over two days, Schwartz found that 90 percent of children in the intervention
school opted for fruit or fruit juice, versus 60 percent of those in the control
school. In both schools, about 80 percent of children who chose fruit actually ate
it.
But while the "Want fruit?" question is simple enough, implementing a policy change
to get cafeteria workers everywhere to say it would not be so simple. There is
money involved, Schwartz pointed out, since fruits and vegetables are relatively
expensive for schools, and increased consumption would mean increased costs.
"The decision has to be made at the top," she said, referring to the federal
government, which reimburses schools at a certain rate per lunch served -- and
makes the nutritional guidelines that schools follow.
Giving kids a "verbal prompt" is one tactic to boost fruit and vegetable
consumption at lunch. Another, Schwartz noted, would be for the government to
change its regulations to require that fruits and vegetables be one of the three
options students include in their lunch every day.
Regardless of whether the study findings affect school lunch policy, Schwartz said
they do show that, with a little encouragement, kids will eat fruit. So parents
should have it on hand.
"Simply having it in front of you increases the chances you'll eat it," Schwartz
said.
"Peel the orange," she advised, "and have it there waiting when your child gets
home from school."
SOURCE: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, online
March 5, 2007.
Dr. Sears Comment
Many of these suggestions on how to get children to eat more fruit seem to come
directly from many of the books I have written over the years. Bottom line, it
still remains a problem of economics. With a very limited budget, school lunch
programs find it easier to pile on cheap calories from refined carbohydrates rather
than trying to push low-glycemic carbohydrate choices. Since low-fat protein is
even more expensive, don't even think about getting schools to push that ingredient.