Appearance alteration of fruits and vegetables to increase their appeal to and consumption by school-age children: A pilot study

Abstract

Picky eating with regard to fruit and vegetables is common among children. This study investigated the effectiveness of enhancing the visual appeal of fruit and vegetables to increase children's liking and consumption of fruit and vegetables. A pre-post experimental design was used, and the control and experimental groups were repeatedly exposed to the original food and transformed food, respectively, over 6 weeks. Significant differences in the consumption of pumpkin, sweet potato, spinach, carrot and aubergine were observed between the groups, demonstrating that the appearance appeal of fruit and vegetables improves the willingness of children to try disliked fruit and vegetables and increases their vegetable consumption.

Keywords: appearance alteration; fruit and vegetable consumption; fruit and vegetable liking; repeated exposure; school-age children.