Kids' food choices don't match nutrition knowledge

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kindergartners have a fairly good idea of which foods are good for them, but they often prefer less healthy choices, researchers from Israel have found.

On the other hand, kindergarten-age children are less aware of which physical activities are healthiest -- but kids who are knowledgeable on the topic are also more likely to prefer these activities.

These findings show that encouraging children to eat well and be active should begin in the preschool years, say Dr. Alon Eliakim at Meir General Hospital in Kfar Saba and colleagues, in their report in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.

Eliakim's team tested the physical activity and nutrition knowledge of 202 kindergarten children by showing them 15 pairs of photos depicting activities or foods. In each pair, one photo represented the healthy choice, the other the unhealthy one. Each child was allowed to choose a doll, which they were instructed to take care of and help stay healthy. They were then asked to choose which activity or food from each of the 15 pairs would "make the doll healthy and grow big and strong." The children were then shown the pictures again and asked which one of each pair they liked the best.

On average, children made the right healthy choice of food for their doll 73 percent of the time, but they chose the healthy food for themselves just 42 percent of the time. Among the physical activity pairs, the children picked the healthy one 67 percent of the time for their doll, and 66 percent of the time for themselves.

Girls were more knowledgeable than boys about healthy foods, and more likely to prefer them, the researchers found. There was no gender difference in knowledge about which activities were healthiest, but boys were more likely than girls to prefer healthy activities.

Based on the findings, Eliakim and colleagues say, "nutrition education must start in the early preschool and kindergarten years, and can not be delayed until these children will be mature enough to understand every aspect of the dietary recommendations." Such efforts could include tasting fruits and vegetables and learning to prepare them, visiting places where food is grown and processed, and incorporating information on food into lessons about geography, math and other topics, they suggest.

SOURCE: International Journal of Sports Medicine, October 2007.