Inadequate fruit and vegetable intake is a risk factor for the development of chronic
disease and obesity.
1
Only 3% of 4- to 8-year-old Australian children meet national vegetable intake guidelines
(22% when potatoes are added, including fried potatoes), according to the 2007 Australian
National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey.
2
Familiarity strongly influences young children’s food preferences, so early childhood
is a crucial time for interventions that will influence lifelong tastes and food preferences.
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
Food literacy, including knowledge about vegetables and skills regarding their selection
and preparation,
7
can begin to be taught at a young age. In South Australia, all children aged 4 years
attend preschool for 12 months and these settings thus have a significant reach. The
Vegie Fun for Everyone program aimed to develop a positive attitude toward vegetables in preschool-attending
4-year-olds in a non-threatening and play-based format using Piaget’s Cognitive Development
Theory.
8
The 6-week food literacy program, led by preschool staff, encouraged children to
explore vegetables, leading to positive experiences, self-directed tasting,
9
and increased dialogue about vegetables among staff, children, and families.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- Enjoy plenty of vegetables, including different types and colors, and legumes and beans, and enjoy fruit. Australian Dietary Guidelines.National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Canberra, Australia2013: 36-44
- Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey: Main Findings Report.Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization Preventative Health National Research Flagship and the University of South Australia, Canberra, Australia2007
- Promoting children’s healthy eating in obesogenic environments: lessons learned from the rat.Physiol Behav. 2011; 104: 641-645
de Wild V, de Graaf C, Jager G. Efficacy of repeated exposure and flavor-flavor learning as mechanisms to increase preschooler’s vegetable intake and acceptance [published online ahead of print June 4, 2014]. Pediatr Obes. 10.1111/ijpo.244.
- Increasing pre-school children’s consumption of fruit and vegetables: a modelling and rewards intervention.Appetite. 2011; 56: 375-385
- Preschoolers can distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods: the all 4 kids study.J Nutr Educ Behav. 2014; 46: 121-127
- Defining food literacy and its components.Appetite. 2014; 76: 50-59
- Use of Piaget’s theory in preschool nutrition education.Rev Nutr. 2009; 22: 905-917
- Exposure to foods’ non-taste sensory properties: a nursery intervention to increase children’s willingness to try fruit and vegetables.Appetite. 2014; 84: 1-6
Southern Adelaide Health Network-Southern Primary Health. Vegie Fun for Everyone Program Manual and Toolkit. http://www.playford.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Vegie%20Fun%20for%20Everyone%20-%20Program%20Manual%20and%20Toolkit.pdf. Accessed May 5, 2015.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 16, 2015
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors’ conflict of interest disclosures can be found online with this article on www.jneb.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
