Cotwright Caree J, Alvis Courtney, de Jesus Jimenez Fabiola, Farmer Paula, Okoli Chisom, Delane Jennine, Cox Ginnefer O
Department of Foods and Nutrition, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.
Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Athens, Georgia.
Health Equity. 2020 Mar 27;4(1):84-90. doi: 10.1089/heq.2019.0113. eCollection 2020.
Low-income children are disproportionately affected by high rates of food insecurity and obesity, placing them at risk for poor health outcomes. Diets that are rich in fruits and vegetables (FV) are associated with health benefits such as reducing the risk of obesity. Despite these benefits, American children do not consume nationally recommended amounts of fruits (63%) and vegetables (90%) per day. Data reveal that young children exhibit increased food neophobia toward vegetables. One way to decrease food neophobia is to introduce FV to young children via recipe tasting. The purpose of the study was to increase willingness to try FV among low-income children using live characters at Summer Food Service Program Sites. The study design was a small-scale pilot study to conduct taste tests of recipes with 125 low-income children. Researchers created recipe-tasting stations at two different sites. At Site 1, characters promoting FV characters were present at the recipe-tasting station. At Site 2, researchers presented recipes without characters being present. Taste tests were conducted once per week for a period of 4 weeks using two previously validated instruments, Taste Test Tool and the Taste and Rate Questionnaire. Results demonstrated that introducing FV recipes with characters showed a trend toward increasing willingness to try FV among low-income children. Data also suggested that low-income children had limited exposure to specific FV before recipe tastings. The use of characters is a promising approach to increase willingness to try FV among low-income children.
低收入家庭的儿童受粮食不安全和肥胖高发生率的影响尤为严重，这使他们面临健康状况不佳的风险。富含水果和蔬菜（FV）的饮食与诸多健康益处相关，比如降低肥胖风险。尽管有这些益处，但美国儿童每天摄入的水果（63%）和蔬菜（90%）未达到国家推荐量。数据显示，幼儿对蔬菜表现出更强的食物新恐惧症。减少食物新恐惧症的一种方法是通过食谱品尝向幼儿介绍水果和蔬菜。本研究的目的是利用暑期食品服务项目点的真人角色，提高低收入儿童尝试水果和蔬菜的意愿。该研究设计为一项小规模试点研究，对125名低收入儿童进行食谱口味测试。研究人员在两个不同地点设立了食谱品尝站。在地点1，食谱品尝站有推广水果和蔬菜的角色出现。在地点2，研究人员在没有角色出现的情况下展示食谱。使用两种先前经过验证的工具——口味测试工具和口味与评分问卷，每周进行一次口味测试，为期4周。结果表明，引入有角色的水果和蔬菜食谱显示出低收入儿童尝试水果和蔬菜的意愿有增加的趋势。数据还表明，低收入儿童在食谱品尝之前对特定水果和蔬菜的接触有限。使用角色是一种很有前景的方法，可以提高低收入儿童尝试水果和蔬菜的意愿。
