At some time, most kids will hear that drinking milk tends to make their bones strong or that fish is food for that brain. But do these messages foster the concept that if something is good for us, it has to surely taste bad? According to new research within the Journal of Consumer Research, when children hear about the benefits of healthy food choices, they’re less likely to consume it.
“We predicted that whenever meals are given to children as which makes them strong or as a tool to attain a goal for example finding out how to read or count, they would conclude your meals are less tasty and therefore consume less of it,” write authors Michal Maimaran (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University) and Ayelet Fishbach (University of Chicago Booth School of economic).
To test this idea, the authors conducted five studies with children between the ages of three and five. In any studies, the children were read an image book story about a girl who ate a snack of crackers or carrots. Depending on the experiment, the story either did or didn’t state the benefits of the snack (making the lady strong or helping her learn to count). The children were then because of the chance to eat the food featured in the story and also the authors measured just how much they ate. The children ate more when they didn’t get any message concerning the foods which makes them strong or helping them learn to count.
Brands marketing foods to oldsters and kids can use these results to de-emphasize the advantages of healthy food and concentrate more on the positive experience with eating the meals. These results also assistance to empower policy makers and medical institutions looking to combat weight problems in children and juvenile diabetes.
“Parents and caregivers who are struggling to get children to consume healthier might be better off simply serving the meals without having to say anything about it, or (if credible) emphasizing how yummy the food really is,” the authors conclude.
Michal Maimaran and Ayelet Fishbach. “If It’s Useful and You Know It, Do You Eat? Preschoolers Avoid Instrumental Food.” Journal of Consumer Research: October 2014.
