More Choices Encourage Kids to Eat More Vegetables

To get young children to eat more vegetables, try offering them a choice. In a study, 32 veggie-averse kids ages 4 to 6 were randomly assigned to one of three groups: In one, parents were told to offer the child a small amount of cooked broccoli three times a week for five weeks. Participants in another group offered their children two of three vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, or peas) at once, rotating the choices each time. Parents in a third group didn’t change their child’s eating habits. The children who were offered the two different veggies ate twice the amount of vegetables as the other two groups (1.2 versus 0.6 half-cup servings per day). What’s more, the kids kept up the habit three months after the study ended.