Would offering vegetables to children for breakfast increase their total daily vegetable intake?

McLeod, Chris; Haycraft, Emma; Daley, Amanda

doi:10.1017/s1368980022002002

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 42 publications

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“…Such an analysis is consistent with recent findings showing that one major obstacle to adding nutritious alternatives to the breakfast repertoire lay in children's poor conception of what breakfast food should be (53) . Moreover, breakfast has been discussed as an unexplored opportunity for increasing the total daily vegetable intake in children, in the UK and other countries where vegetables are not traditionally served for this meal (54) .…”

Section: Boosting Food Knowledge and Food Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing down barriers to children’s healthy eating: a critical review of opportunities, within a complex food system

Varela,

De Rosso,

Ferreira Moura

et al. 2023

Nutr. Res. Rev.

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This narrative review revises the scientific evidence of recent years on healthy eating in children and adolescents, making sense of promising avenues of action, from a food system perspective. A conceptual framework is provided to better understand how eating habits of children and adolescents are shaped to identify key multisectoral approaches that should be implemented to promote healthier diets. The following influencing factors are discussed: individual factors (physiological and psychological factors, food preferences and food literacy competencies), factors within the personal and socio-cultural food environments, external food environments, and the supply chain. In each section, the main barriers to healthy eating are briefly discussed focusing on how to overcome them. Finally, a discussion with recommendations of actions is provided, anchored in scientific knowledge, and transferable to the general public, industry, and policymakers. We highlight that multidisciplinary approaches are not enough, a systems approach, with a truly holistic view is needed. Apart from introducing systemic changes, a variety of interventions can be implemented at different levels to foster healthier diets in children, through fostering healthier and more sustainable food environments, facilitating pleasurable sensory experiences, increasing their food literacy, and enhancing their agency by empowering them to make better food related decisions. Acknowledging children as unique individuals is required, through interpersonal interactions, as well as their role in their environments. Actions should aim to enable children and adolescents as active participants within sustainable food systems, to support healthier dietary behaviours that can be sustained throughout life, impacting health at a societal level.

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Section: Boosting Food Knowledge and Food Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing down barriers to children’s healthy eating: a critical review of opportunities, within a complex food system

Varela,

De Rosso,

Ferreira Moura

et al. 2023

Nutr. Res. Rev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Primary-school-aged children inspire their peers and families to eat more vegetables in the KiiDSAY project: a qualitative descriptive study

F.,

A.,

et al. 2024

BMC Pediatr

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Background While vegetable intakes in Australia remain sub-optimal across all age groups, children are rarely consulted about their ideas on how to increase consumption. Qualitative research involving children provides an opportunity to consider their views. The aim of the Kids initiative inspires Dietary Success in Adults and Youth (KiiDSAY) project was to explore the views of school-aged children, who had participated in a school-based nutrition education program, about inspiring their peers and families to eat more vegetables. Methods A total of 26 children (15 boys) aged 10–12 years from four primary schools in New South Wales, Australia, participated in seven focus group interviews. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit participants. The study involved open-ended semi-structured questions conducted via Zoom that were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis with deductive and inductive coding in NVivo. Results Four major themes emerged: (i) taste; (ii) family environment; (iii) healthy eating; and (iv) change makers; with subthemes that were embedded within Social Cognitive Theory and Ecological Model of Health Behaviour theoretical frameworks. Conclusions Children’s inputs hold great potential for informing future interventions, particularly when designing or refining school-based nutrition programs. Children offered suggestions on how to inspire increased vegetable consumption among their peers and families that could be taken into consideration for future research and practice. These included: cooking activities in the home and school settings using recipes that creatively hide/mask/enhance the flavour of vegetables, involving positive role models and supportive school environments. Additionally, children recommended a sequential approach to the delivery of recipes starting from fruit-based and transitioning to vegetable-based recipes. Given the challenges faced in increasing children’s vegetable consumption, particular focus on future research in this area is warranted. Trial registration FEAST Trial registered 14th December 2020 with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12620001347954).

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Offering vegetables to children at breakfast time in nursery and kindergarten settings: the Veggie Brek feasibility and acceptability cluster randomised controlled trial

McLeod

Haycraft

Daley

2023

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

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Background In many Westernised countries, children do not consume a sufficient amount of vegetables for optimal health and development. Child-feeding guidelines have been produced to address this, but often only promote offering vegetables at midday/evening meals and snack times. With guidance having limited success in increasing children’s vegetable intake at a population level, novel approaches to address this must be developed. Offering vegetables to children at breakfast time in nursery/kindergarten settings has the potential to increase children’s overall daily vegetable consumption as children typically attend nursery/kindergarten and many routinely eat breakfast there. However, the feasibility and acceptability of this intervention (Veggie Brek) to children and nursery staff has not been investigated. Methods A feasibility and acceptability cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) was undertaken in eight UK nurseries. All nurseries engaged in one-week baseline and follow-up phases before and after an intervention/control period. Staff in intervention nurseries offered three raw carrot batons and three cucumber sticks alongside children’s main breakfast food each day for three weeks. Control nurseries offered children their usual breakfast. Feasibility was assessed by recruitment data and nursery staff's ability to follow the trial protocol. Acceptability was assessed by children’s willingness to eat the vegetables at breakfast time. All primary outcomes were assessed against traffic-light progression criteria. Staff preference for collecting data via photographs versus using paper was also assessed. Further views about the intervention were obtained through semi-structured interviews with nursery staff. Results The recruitment of parents/caregivers willing to provide consent for eligible children was acceptable at 67.8% (within the amber stop–go criterion) with 351 children taking part across eight nurseries. Both the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention to nursery staff and the willingness of children to consume the vegetables met the green stop–go criteria, with children eating some part of the vegetables in 62.4% (745/1194) of instances where vegetables were offered. Additionally, staff preferred reporting data using paper compared to taking photographs. Conclusions Offering vegetables to children at breakfast time in nursery/kindergarten settings is feasible and acceptable to children and nursery staff. A full intervention evaluation should be explored via a definitive RCT. Trial registration NCT05217550.

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Would offering vegetables to children for breakfast increase their total daily vegetable intake?

Cited by 3 publications

References 42 publications

Bringing down barriers to children’s healthy eating: a critical review of opportunities, within a complex food system

Bringing down barriers to children’s healthy eating: a critical review of opportunities, within a complex food system

Primary-school-aged children inspire their peers and families to eat more vegetables in the KiiDSAY project: a qualitative descriptive study

Offering vegetables to children at breakfast time in nursery and kindergarten settings: the Veggie Brek feasibility and acceptability cluster randomised controlled trial

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