Study: Kids Eat Hidden Vegetables

My brother and I had a dinnertime deal when we were kids.

I would eat all the mushrooms hiding in his salad if he would eat all the cherry tomatoes sitting in mine.

My parents were lucky. They didn’t have to come up with special recipes to ensure we ate our vegetables. We ate plenty every night.

But if you find yourself ready to bribe your children to eat two bites of broccoli, you might want to try hiding the vegetables.

Researchers at Penn State have found they could get preschoolers to eat twice as many vegetables daily by adding pureed vegetables to certain entrees. Additionally, the children consumed 11 percent fewer calories, which is significant for any parent worried about their child’s weight.

Thirty-nine children from the ages of 3 to 6 participated in the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers served them zucchini bread, pasta with tomato-based sauce and chicken noodle casserole. Pureed vegetables were added to each dish reducing the caloric value by 15 to 25 percent.

A similar study in adults found they ate the same amount of food when it was prepared with extra vegetables. As a result, they lost weight over a period of time because they were consuming fewer calories.

So go ahead and get out the food processor. You just might find it’s less work than trying to convince your child to eat another piece of broccoli. And it could help your weight loss goals, too.

Alice Warchol is a fitness instructor and freelance health writer.

Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

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