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. 2018 Dec 3;10(12):1879.
doi: 10.3390/nu10121879.

Can Reduced Intake Associated with Downsizing a High Energy Dense Meal Item be Offset by Increased Vegetable Variety in 3⁻5-year-old Children?

Sharon A Carstairs  1 , Samantha J Caton  2 , Pam Blundell-Birtill  3 , Barbara J Rolls  4 , Marion M Hetherington  5 , Joanne E Cecil  6
Affiliations

Can Reduced Intake Associated with Downsizing a High Energy Dense Meal Item be Offset by Increased Vegetable Variety in 3⁻5-year-old Children?

Sharon A Carstairs et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Large portions of energy dense foods promote overconsumption but offering small portions might lead to compensatory intake of other foods. Offering a variety of vegetables could help promote vegetable intake and offset the effect of reducing the portion size (PS) of a high energy dense (HED) food. Therefore, we tested the effect on intake of reducing the PS of a HED unit lunch item while varying the variety of the accompanying low energy dense (LED) vegetables. In a within-subjects design, 43 3⁻5-year-old pre-schoolers were served a lunch meal in their nursery on 8 occasions. Children were served a standard (100%) or downsized (60%) portion of a HED sandwich with a side of LED vegetables offered as a single (carrot, cherry tomato, cucumber) or variety (all 3 types) item. Reducing the PS of a HED sandwich reduced sandwich (g) (p < 0.001) and total meal intake (kcal) consumption (p = 0.001) without an increased intake of other foods in the meal (LED vegetables (p = 0.169); dessert (p = 0.835)). Offering a variety of vegetables, compared with a single vegetable, increased vegetable intake (g) (p = 0.003) across PS conditions. Downsizing and variety were effective strategies individually for altering pre-schoolers' intakes of HED and LED meal items, however, using variety to offset HED downsizing was not supported in the present study.

Keywords: eating behavior; portion size; pre-school children; variety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean (± SEM) intakes of sandwich at a lunch meal across both HED portion sizes by vegetable condition. * denotes a significant effect of portion size at p < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean (± SEM) intakes (kcal) of lunch components by HED portion size. Error bars show SEM for total meal intake *denotes a significant effect of portion size condition on at p < 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean (± SEM) intakes of LED vegetables at a lunch meal across both HED portion sizes by vegetable condition. A significant main effect of vegetable condition was observed at p < 0.05. Within each variety condition the mean consumption of each individual vegetable type (carrot (orange), cherry tomato (red) and cucumber (green) has been shown.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of parental ratings of child satiety responsiveness on HED intake (g) by portion condition.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect of parental ratings of child satiety responsiveness on total energy intake (kcal) by portion condition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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