Skip to main content

Kids’ Diet Improves After Watching Cooking Show on Healthy Food

Kids’ Diet Improves After Watching Cooking Show on Healthy Food


While exposure to television advertisements about fast foods is often linked to unhealthy eating habits among children, a new research has revealed that TV programmes featuring healthy foods can influence children to make healthier food choices now and in adulthood.
Kids who watched a child-oriented cooking show featuring healthy food were 2.7 times more likely to make a healthy food choice than those who watched a different episode of the same show featuring unhealthy food, said the study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour.
“The findings from this study indicate cooking programmes can be a promising tool for promoting positive changes in children’s food-related preferences, attitudes, and behaviours,” said lead author Frans Folkvord of Tilburg University in the Netherlands.
For the study, the researchers asked 125 children between 10 to 12 years of age at five schools in the Netherlands to watch 10 minutes of a Dutch public television cooking programme designed for children, and then offered them a snack as a reward for participating.
Children who watched the healthy programme were far more likely to choose one of the healthy snack options — an apple or a few pieces of cucumber than one of the unhealthy options, a handful of chips or a handful of salted mini-pretzels.
This study was conducted at the children’s schools, which could represent a promising alternative for children learning healthy eating behaviours.
Prior research has found youth are more likely to eat nutrient-rich foods including fruits and vegetables if they were involved in preparing the dish, but modern reliance on ready-prepared foods and a lack of modelling by parents in preparing fresh foods have led to a drop in cooking skills among kids.
“Providing nutritional education in school environments instead may have an important positive influence on the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviours of children,” Folkvord said.
This study suggests the visual prominence of healthier options in both food choice and portion size on TV cooking programmes leads young viewers to crave those healthier choices then act on those cravings.
But the effect that exposure to healthier options has on children is strongly influenced by personality traits.
For example, children who don’t like new foods are less likely to show a stronger desire for healthier choices after watching a TV programme featuring healthier foods than a child who does enjoy trying new foods.
As they grow older, though, they start to feel more responsible for their eating habits and can fall back on information they learned as children.
Researchers believe this may indicate watching programmes with healthier options can still have a positive impact on children’s behaviour, even if it is delayed by age.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

United Kingdom history

United Kingdom, island country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe. The United Kingdom comprises the whole of the island of Great Britain—which contains England, Wales, and Scotland—as well as the northern portion of the island of Ireland. The name Britain is sometimes used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. The capital is London, which is among the world’s leading commercial, financial, and cultural centres. Other major cities include Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester in England, Belfast and Londonderry in Northern Ireland, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Swansea and Cardiff in Wales.The origins of the United Kingdom can be traced to the time of the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan, who in the early 10th century ce secured the allegiance of neighbouring Celtic kingdoms and became “the first to rule what previously many kings shared between them,” in the words of a contemporary chronicle. Through subsequent conquest over the following centuries, kingdoms ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lion history

Lions once lived in southern Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia. Today, however, they are confined mainly to the game reserves of Africa. A few live in the Gir Forest of India. This Indian subspecies is highly endangered: a single disease outbreak could wipe them all out. An adult male lion can be 3.4 m (11 ft.) long including the tail, and weigh as much as 250 kg (550 lb.). The female is about 15 to 20% smaller, and lacks the male's heavy mane. Most lions, except non-breeding males, live in groups known as prides, which usually include 6 to 30 members. One or two mature males, or occasionally more, will reside with each pride. Typically, lions spend 20 to 21 hours per day resting. The remaining time is spent interacting socially (playing, nursing, mating, loafing, etcetera) and hunting. Lions prey mostly on hoofed animals, although they occasionally consume fallen fruit and carrion. They hunt co-operatively and, while the females are better hunters and do most of the work brin...
Post a Comment
Read more