Talking about food habits helps kids become healthier

New York: Please take note, parents. According to one study, talking about food benefits is likely to get your child to eat healthier, which may help them grow bigger and run faster.
The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour, found that affirming statements were more effective than presenting the food repeatedly without conversation in getting kids to make healthy food choices.

The researchers discovered that when kids were told how healthy food would benefit them in terms they could understand, they ate twice as much as when they were given the food with no context.

“Every child wants to be bigger, faster, and have the ability to jump higher,” said study lead author Jane Lanigan, an Associate Professor at Washington State University in the United States.

“Using these kinds of examples made the food more appealing to eat,” Lanigan explained.

The researchers wanted to see if affirmative statements about the benefits of healthy food, known as child-centered nutrition phrases (CCNPs), influenced young children to make healthier food choices.

For the study, the researchers chose 87 children and conducted a six-week experiment in which they offered healthy foods to a group of 3-to-5-year-old children.

“We discovered that after a month, the kids ate twice as much of their CCNP food with repeated exposure as they did without the positive words. When we presented lentils, for example, we would say, ‘This will help you grow bigger and run faster.’ “Lanigan stated.

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