Communication of healthy foods toward pre-adolescent children Valérie Lengard Almli

How do we effectively communicate which foods are healthy? CAS workshop, 11-12 February 2014

Outline

• Barriers to a healthy diet among children

• Some possible strategies

1. Teaching program to schoolchildren 2. Exposure to new foods 3. Marketing healthier alternatives toward children

• Conclusions

Children and healthy diets

ADULTS CHILDREN

• Senses stronger than mind • Difficult to change consumption habits

• Senses stronger than parental advice • No concern about health • Food neophobia

Strategies for eating healthy:

1. a better knowledge of food products • Better enjoyment around food and cooking • ↗ pleasure of eating varied foods

2. eating more varied foods • covers nutritional needs • ↗ pleasure of eating • Basis for life-long healthy eating habits

3. eating foods with less sugar, fat and additives

• Some barriers to eating healthy:

1. Teaching food enjoyment at Geitmyra • Culinary Center for Children • Non-profit organisation • 18th century small farm in the middle of Oslo

• Teach children about food, cooking and

gardening • Invite kindergartens, school children and

families for various courses • 5-day program for 6th graders

• Goals: raise children’s curiosity, enthusiasm and

feeling of achievement through preparation of tasty meals

Foto: Geitmyra

Foto: Geitmyra

Study 1: Effects of Geitmyra’s teaching program • 148 school children recruited in 2 schools

• 99 completed the questionnaires

• Intervention group (G1) – Oslo , Control group (G2) – Ski

Foto: Geitmyra

T0 (2-4 weeks prior

to Geitmyra)

T1 (last day of

Geitmyra-week)

T2 (4-6 weeks after

Geitmyra)

Intervention group (G1) n=57 X X X

Control group (G2) n=42 X X

Kristine Myhrer NMBU/Nofima

Questionnaire part 1: Attitudes to taste, healthiness and food enjoyment Smak Sunnhet Velvære

Mat smaker bedre når jeg

har vært med å lage den

Det er viktig at jeg spiser

variert mat

Det er gøy å lage mat Positivt

Jo mer jeg vet om maten, jo

bedre smaker den

Umettet fett er bra for

kroppen min

Det er hyggelig å spise

sammen med andre Positivt

Når jeg er kokken

bestemmer jeg hvordan

maten skal smake

Jeg prøver å spise «5 om

dagen» av frukt og

grønnsaker

Jeg vil gjerne vite mest mulig

om maten jeg spiser Positivt

Ferdigmat smaker bedre enn

hjemmelaget mat

Jeg tenker ikke på hva som er

sunt når jeg spiser

Mat smaker bedre foran

PC ‘en enn ved bordet Negativt

Questionnaire part 2: food acceptance

Mussels

Have you tasted mussels?

How much do you like mussels?

How often have you eaten mussels in the last month?

Questionnaire part 3: food neophobia 1 Jeg er veldig kresen når det gjelder maten jeg vil spise -

2 Jeg liker mat fra forskjellige land +

3 Jeg er skeptisk til ny mat -

4 Jeg liker å prøve uvanlige matvarer +

5 Hvis jeg kan velge i mellom ulike smaker i en matvare (for eksempel

iskrem), velger jeg den smaken jeg kjenner best

-

6 Jeg vil smake på en matrett selv om jeg ikke vet hva som er i den +

7 Den maten jeg allerede kjenner til er god nok for meg -

8 Jeg er villig til å smake på all mat jeg blir tilbudt +

9 Jeg er redd for å spise mat jeg aldri har smakt før -

10 Jeg vil ikke smake på mat når jeg ikke vet hva det er -

Reverdy, C., Chesnel, F., Schlich, P., Koster, E. P. & Lange, C. (2008). Effect of sensory education on willingness to taste novel food in children. Appetite, 51 (1): 156-65.

Effect of the teaching program on attitudes

* Significant change from T0

* * * *

• Positive effect at T1 • Effect disappears after a few weeks except for Healthiness

10,0

20,0

30,0

40,0

50,0

60,0

70,0

80,0

90,0

Smak Sunnhet Velvære Totalt

Poen

gsco

re

Holdninger

Attitudes – Intervention group (G1)

G1 T0

G1 T1

G1 T2

Liking scores on food items prepared at Geitmyra

* Significant change from T0

• Positive effect at T1 • Effect tends to disappear after a few weeks

Food neophobia

28,8 27,1 28,6 26,0

28,9

0,0

10,0

20,0

30,0

40,0

50,0

60,0

70,0

80,0

90,0

G1 G2

Poen

ggje

nnom

snitt

Gruppe

Matneofobi-score (AFNS)

T0

T1

T2

• No effect of the teaching program on the children’s food neophobia level

Conclusions from study 1 • A teaching program shows positive effects on children’s attitudes to foods

and food acceptance for exposed products – Attitude to healthiness was the most stable changed attitude – Follow-up programs may be required to maintain the change over time

• The neophobia scale used (AFNS) did not detect observed changes in

willingness to try new foods

Study 2 – Exposure to new foods • Food neophobia: a barrier to food variety

– Children eat what they like and like what they know

• Repeated exposure of the same food increases familiarity and acceptance

• Can exposure to different foods increase children’s willingness to try new foods?

?

Cooke, 2007; Hausner, Olsen, & Moller, 2012; Osborne & Forestell, 2012; Pliner, 1982; Williams, Paul, Pizzo, & Riegel, 2008; Maier et al (2008)

Alexander Nilsen UiO/Nofima

Food items selection • Different food groups • Varying in basic tastes (sensory panel) • No disgusting appearance

• Examples: – Sweets: Ginger candy, turkish delight, coconut dices – Cereals: Couscous, byggris, malt beer – Meat/seafood: Cocktail-salami, shrimp chips, beef jerky – Dairy Chèvre, taffel cheese, gomme – Fruits and vegetables: Sharon, kumquat, hummus

Experimental protocol

Group Pre-test 7 food items Food sorting test Food Situations Questionnaire

Exposure “One new food a day” 14 food items

Post-test 1 7 food items FSQ

Post-test 2 7 food items

Post-test 3 7 food items

Intervention (n=38)

Week 45 Weeks 45, 46, 47, 48 Week 48 Week 4 (2014) Week 12 (2014)

Control (n=55)

Week 45 ________________ Week 49 Week 4 (2014) Week 12 (2014)

• Data collection – Variety in prior food exposures: Food sorting test – Self-assessed neophobia: Food Situations Questionnaire (FSQ) – Behavioural neophobia: Willingness To Try (WTT) and acceptance of

unfamiliar food items

• Subjects: 10 year olds (5th grade) from 2 schools

Food item questionnaire

Picture

Name

Brief description (non-sensory)

Food item questionnaire Prior exposure and expected liking

Tasted or not, Liking, WTT in the future, basic tastes description

Pre-test: Did they taste the food?

• High tasting rate in both groups

Intervention (I) vs. control (K)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

I_tasted

K_tasted

I_not tasted

K_not tasted

in %

of p

artic

ipat

ing

child

ren

Post-tests preliminary results • Intervention group gives neutral expectations scores on unknown products

learned that you have to taste to know if you like a product or not(?)

• No difference in number of tasted products

Conclusions from study 2 • High tasting rate in both groups ⇒Given the right setting, one can get children to taste about anything!

• More to come…

3. Marketing healthier foods toward children • Usage of common marketing techniques taken

from unhealthy foods to promote healthy foods:

– Cartoons characters who eat vegetables – Packaging targeted to children

smarteatingforkids.com

Jippi food products for children • Norgesgruppen: “JIPPI Healthier kids favourites, a new concept for families

with children between 3 and 10 years old!”

• Objective: help parents to get kids to eat healthy and varied, in an easy and convenient way

1. Range of healthier everyday foods that already are childrens favourites – no artificial sweeteners, flavor enhancers, palm oil or

mechanically separated meat (MSM) – keyhole labelling (70%)

2. Developped in collaboration with nutritionists and sensory scientists at Nofima

3. Taste-approved by children

4. Six cool, tough, cute characters and a virtual world with stories and games

Jippi’s recipe to reach out to children (and their parents)

Lily Li, Max, Ida Maria, Omar, Mina og Thomas

Conclusions and recommendations • Teaching program: short-term positive effects, robust on healthiness?

– Follow-up programs may be required to maintain the change over time

• Exposure study: Given the right setting, children can be willing to taste new foods!

Recommendations for a healthy diet • Teach children that food is fun and enjoyable (Geitmyra, Jippi) • Involve children in food preparation (Geitmyra) • Familiarise children to a large diversity of food items («adult» foods don’t exist!) • Make children eat healthier products without them knowing (Jippi) • Make unhealthy things boring and healthy things available and fun

– Potato chips at the dinner table or pre-cut vegetables in front of the TV?

Thank you!

Foto: eqology.com