It may seem like sorcery but scientists have discovered a wizard way to tempt children into eating fruit and vegetables.
Fairy tales that feature magical fruit and vegetables were found to help children make healthy food choices – with just 20 minutes of storytelling enough to make a difference.
German psychologist Werner Sommer and his colleagues wanted to devise new ways to tackle the childhood obesity epidemic and wondered if pre-school youngsters could be persuaded to choose healthier food options themselves.
The experts at Humboldt University in Berlin, helped by colleagues at the University of Nairobi, turned to 80 boys and girls aged between four and six and divided them into two groups at their kindergarten.
The first heard a story about a painter who refreshes the colours of a city every night but was unable to do his job after falling ill from eating junk food. His strength was later restored by eating magic vegetables. The second group heard a similar story but without any food references.
Every day for the next two weeks, the children were offered a choice of snacking on fruit, vegetables, cakes or cookies, presented on the same platter.
Those who heard the first story ate significantly more fruit and vegetables than they did a week before hearing the fable, while no change occurred in those who heard the second story.
‘With a single instance of storytelling lasting only about 20 minutes, we obtained a surprisingly strong change from a preference for non-healthy snack food towards a preference for healthy fruits or vegetables,’ said Prof Sommer.
The psychologist said he suspected the creative trick may have been successful because fairy tale-like narratives have previously been shown to shape childhood behaviour.
In the first week after the experiment, up to 90 per cent of the children in the first group were choosing fruit over the non-healthy sweets and biscuits. Even after three weeks, 80 per cent of the youngsters were still picking the healthier option.
Similar numbers were recorded when the apple, banana and orange slices on the platter were replaced by raw vegetables such as carrot sticks and pieces of bell pepper. Before hearing the story, only one in ten chose a vegetable snack.
Prof Sommer added: ‘These results point to the powerful effects of fairy tale-like narrations to alter food preferences in early childhood at a time when unhealthy eating is becoming a pandemic.’
According to Wendy Wood at the University of Southern California, the children probably got a taste for healthy snacks after being motivated to try them following the first story.
‘Repeated consumption of a food increases the likelihood that kids will eat it again,’ she said.
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