Catchy names can influence kids to eat more vegetables
The
age-old parental struggle of convincing youngsters to eat their fruits
and vegetables has some new allies. A new study has found that using
attractive names for healthy foods increases kid’s selection and
consumption of these foods.
Cornell University researchers studied how a simple change, such as using attractive names, would influen
ce elementary-aged (5-11yrs) children's consumption of vegetables.
In the first study, plain old carrots were transformed into “X-ray Vision Carrots.”
By changing the carrots to “X-ray vision carrots”, a whopping 66
percent were eaten, far greater than the 32 percent eaten when labelled
“Food of the Day” and 35 percent eaten when unnamed.
The success of the changes is stupendous, and the fun, low cost nature of the change makes it all the more enticing.
In the second study, carrots became “X-Ray vision carrots,” broccoli
did a hulk like morph into “Power Punch Broccoli” along with “Tiny Tasty
Tree Tops” and “Silly Dilly Green Beans” replaced regular old green
beans to give them more pizza.
“These results demonstrate
that using attractive names for healthy foods increases kid's selection
and consumption of these foods and that an attractive name intervention
is robust, effective and scalable at little or no cost," Brian Wansink,
lead author of the study said.
"This research also confirms
that using attractive names to make foods sound more appealing works on
individuals across all age levels."
Source:
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-18/us/33924658_1_green-beans-vision-carrots-vegetables
