Using Herbs and Spices to Increase Vegetable Intake Among Rural Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To test whether adding herbs and spices to school lunch vegetables increases selection and intake compared with lightly salted control versions among rural adolescents. DESIGN: This study compared intake of vegetables with herbs and spices with lightly salted controls (phase I) and tested whether 5 repeated exposures would increase students' intake of herb and spice seasoned vegetables (phase II). PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A total of 600-700 students at a rural middle/high school (age 11-18 years). INTERVENTION: In phase I, herbs and spices were added to 8 vegetables and outcomes were compared with 8 control recipes. In phase II, the impact of repeated exposure to herb and spice blends served on different vegetables was assessed. MAIN OUTCOMES: Vegetable selection rates, weighed intake, and willingness to eat again. ANALYSIS: Two-way ANOVAs tested effects of condition (herbs and spices vs control; before vs after exposure) and age (middle vs high school) on selection and intake. RESULTS: In phase I, students ate more control than seasoned broccoli (P = .01), cauliflower (P = .006), and green beans (P = .01), and high schoolers generally consumed more seasoned vegetables than did middle schoolers (P < .03). In phase II, repeated exposure to herbs and spices increased reported willingness to eat again for seasoned broccoli (P = .003). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: In a short-term intervention, herbs and spices did not produce robust increases in school lunch vegetable intake among rural adolescents, but limited repeat exposure may increase students' willingness to consume these flavors. Additional work is needed to identify individual and school-level characteristics that affect students' willingness to select and consume vegetables with herbs and spices.

Feeding Strategies Derived from Behavioral Economics and Psychology Can Increase Vegetable Intake in Children as Part of a Home-Based Intervention: Results of a Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Behavioral economics and psychology have been applied to altering food choice, but most studies have not measured food intake under free-living conditions. OBJECTIVES: To test the effects of a strategy that pairs positive stimuli (ie, stickers and cartoon packaging) with vegetables and presents them as the default snack. DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with children who reported consumption of fewer than two servings of vegetables daily. Children (aged 3 to 5 years) in both control (n=12) and treatment (n=12) groups received a week's supply of plainly packaged (ie, generic) vegetables, presented by parents as a free choice with an alternative snack (granola bar), during baseline (Week 1) and follow-up (Week 4). During Weeks 2 and 3, the control group continued to receive generic packages of vegetables presented as a free choice, but the treatment group received vegetables packaged in containers with favorite cartoon characters and stickers inside, presented by parents as the default choice. Children in the treatment group were allowed to opt out of the vegetables and request the granola bar after an imposed 5-minute wait. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: General Linear Model repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to compare vegetable and granola bar intake between control and treatment groups across the 4-week study. Both within- and between-subjects models were tested. RESULTS: A time×treatment interaction on vegetable intake was significant. The treatment group increased vegetable intake from baseline to Week 2 relative to control (P<0.01), but the effects were not sustained at Week 4 when the treatment was removed. Granola bar intake decreased in the treatment group at Week 2 (P≤0.001) and Week 3 (P≤0.005) relative to baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Parents were able to administer feeding practices derived from behavioral economics and psychology in the home to increase children's vegetable intake and decrease intake of a high-energy-density snack. Additional studies are needed to test the long-term sustainability of these practices.

Bitter taste phenotype and body weight predict children's selection of sweet and savory foods at a palatable test-meal.

Previous studies show that children who are sensitive to the bitter taste of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) report more frequent intake of sweets and less frequent intake of meats (savory fats) relative to children who are PROP insensitive. Laboratory studies are needed to confirm these findings. In this study, seventy-nine 4- to 6-year-olds from diverse ethnicities attended four laboratory sessions, the last of which included a palatable buffet consisting of savory-fats (e.g. pizza), sweet-fats (e.g. cookies, cakes), and sweets (e.g. juices, candies). PROP phenotype was classified by two methods: 1) a common screening procedure to divide children into tasters and nontasters, and 2) a three-concentration method used to approximate PROP thresholds. Height and weight were measured and saliva was collected for genotyping TAS2R38, a bitter taste receptor related to the PROP phenotype. Data were analyzed by General Linear Model ANOVA with intake from savory fats, sweet-fats, and sweets as dependent variables and PROP status as the independent variable. BMI z-score, sex, age, and ethnicity were included as covariates. Adjusted energy intake from the food group "sweets" at the test-meal was greater for tasters than for nontasters. PROP status did not influence children's adjusted intake of savory-fats, but BMI z-score did. The TAS2R38 genotype did not impact intake at the test-meal. At a palatable buffet, PROP taster children preferentially consumed more sweets than nontaster children, while heavier children consumed more savory fats. These findings may have implications for understanding differences in susceptibility to hyperphagia.