Related News
Want kids to eat veggies? Keep it simple, study says
Source: Agencies |
March 24, 2010, Wednesday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
FOR all those parents out there who struggle to feed their children vegetables, Dutch researchers have some advice: keep them crunchy by steaming or boiling them.
Researchers from Wageningen University tested two readily available and commonly eaten vegetables -- carrots and french beans -- that had been cooked in six different ways on groups of primary school children to find out which was their preferred way of eating them.
The carrots and beans were mashed, steamed, boiled, stir-fried, grilled and deep-fried and then served to the children, whose ages ranged from 4 years to 12 years.
A control group of 18-25 year-old adults was also served the same vegetables prepared in the same methods.
The researchers, who said that children in many countries ate less vegetables than the amount recommended by healthcare professionals, found that the majority of children liked the steamed or boiled vegetables the best.
They attributed this to the fact that the carrots and beans retained their original taste, colour and crunchiness, and that this way of cooking, which many children were familiar with, kept the vegetables' surface uniform and without any brown colouring.
"Vegetable liking was determined by a complex mixture of a uniform appearance, textures that are easily controllable in the mouth and the typical, familiar vegetable taste," the study's authors said in a statement.
"Although future research should confirm our findings, our study indicated that it is promising to offer children vegetables that are as crunchy as possible, with the typical vegetable taste and a uniform surface without brown colouring and without a granular texture."
Researchers from Wageningen University tested two readily available and commonly eaten vegetables -- carrots and french beans -- that had been cooked in six different ways on groups of primary school children to find out which was their preferred way of eating them.
The carrots and beans were mashed, steamed, boiled, stir-fried, grilled and deep-fried and then served to the children, whose ages ranged from 4 years to 12 years.
A control group of 18-25 year-old adults was also served the same vegetables prepared in the same methods.
The researchers, who said that children in many countries ate less vegetables than the amount recommended by healthcare professionals, found that the majority of children liked the steamed or boiled vegetables the best.
They attributed this to the fact that the carrots and beans retained their original taste, colour and crunchiness, and that this way of cooking, which many children were familiar with, kept the vegetables' surface uniform and without any brown colouring.
"Vegetable liking was determined by a complex mixture of a uniform appearance, textures that are easily controllable in the mouth and the typical, familiar vegetable taste," the study's authors said in a statement.
"Although future research should confirm our findings, our study indicated that it is promising to offer children vegetables that are as crunchy as possible, with the typical vegetable taste and a uniform surface without brown colouring and without a granular texture."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
