Getting Kids To Eat Vegetables

A new study shows that parents may teach children to eat healthy by pairing fruits and vegetables with more savory foods in a “good cop, bad cop” round of associative conditioning.

Though most kids might raid a fruit bowl for afternoon sustenance, few hunger for an afternoon snack of plain vegetables, particularly the bitter taste of brussels sprouts. But by pairing the leafy green cultivar with a schmear of cream cheese, a child’s palate may be so refined. “This has the potential to change the eating habits of children, including eating more vegetables, and this in turn will affect childhood obesity,” Elizabeth Capaldi-Phillips, a psychologist at the University of Arizona, told Reuters.