A new study has been published nutrients shows how potatoes can play a beneficial role in encouraging school-age children to eat more vegetables. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans currently recommend that children ages 3 to 18 consume 2.5 to 3 cups of vegetables per day to meet their total vegetable goals. However, the average school-age child only eats about 1 cup a day. “So we wanted to learn more about how school meal offerings might influence children’s eating behavior and possibly encourage greater vegetable consumption,” explains lead researcher Gene Ahlborn, PhD, Associate Professor of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science at Brigham Young University. .
The study found that children ate more total vegetables when peas and carrots were served with potato-shaped smiley faces; This suggests that pairing kid-friendly potato types with other vegetables may further encourage overall vegetable consumption. Potato shaped faces are a happy faces shaped potato product made with mashed potatoes and sunflower oil to create a slightly crispy exterior and interior.
“Getting kids to eat their vegetables is always a challenge,” says Ahlborn. “Not only do potatoes add nutrients like potassium directly to the plate, they can also help encourage children to explore other vegetables served with them, thus getting them closer to their overall nutritional needs.”
Through controlled mealtime observation, the research team evaluated how different potato presentations and preparation styles affected the amount of vegetables school-age children consumed in the cafeteria setting. Spicy potatoes were less appealing to participants aged 7 to 13, while potato-shaped faces were served. separately While total vegetable consumption from peas and carrots was not further encouraged, meals in which potato-shaped sides were served with peas and carrots in the same bowl led to a measurable increase in the total number of vegetables eaten.
Ahlborn and colleagues also found that serving potato-shaped faces in a cafeteria setting reduced vegetable plate waste compared to the control meal. “This underscores the far-reaching effects of school menus. We want vegetables on school lunch trays to fuel children’s bodies, not fill up trash cans,” adds Ahlborn.
Taken together, these findings suggest that offering child-friendly potato preparations with other vegetables may provide cumulative benefits not only to students’ dietary habits but also to school cafeterias’ efforts to reduce food waste.
These results are consistent with other research findings showing that adolescents who consume potatoes are more likely to have higher diet quality, nutrient intake, and adequacy; Therefore, promoting potato consumption may be a sound strategy to improve nutritional status.one
Study Details
Study design
Dr. Ahlborn studied children’s feeding behaviors and consumption patterns during a series of mealtimes that took place in a controlled, simulated environment designed to mimic a school cafeteria. In each session, children were given a base meal consisting of 2% milk, chicken pieces, ketchup, and applesauce, as well as an experimental meal component (reflecting different presentations and preparations of mixed peas and carrots). The researchers weighed the food before and after eating to assess plate waste and also analyzed total vegetable consumption.
The experimental meal component came with five varieties of mixed peas and carrots (MPAC), including:
- MPACs and whole wheat bread roll served separately (control condition)
- MPACs and potato-shaped faces served in separate bowls
- MPACs and seasoned diced potatoes served in separate bowls
- MPACs and seasoned diced potatoes served in the same bowl
- MPACs and potato-shaped faces served in the same bowl
Results
These small changes in presentation and preparation style had a measurable impact on participants’ vegetable consumption, as demonstrated in the study findings; When the potatoes were on the trays, the children ate more peas and carrots than when they were served alongside a separate bread roll.
Participants consumed the most vegetables and calories when the pea/carrot and potato smoothies were served in the same bowl (452 total calories and 8.77 grams more vegetables than when the peas and carrots were combined with rosemary potatoes in the same bowl). This was a small difference compared to the control meal, which contained only 21 additional calories and an additional 5 grams of fat (all unsaturated).
Strengths and Limitations
Strengths of the study included removing parents from the immediate study environment to minimize potential bias during mealtime consumption and measuring food intake and plate wastage in real time compared to less accurate dietary recall methods. While the researchers took steps to create a controlled environment that mimicked a school cafeteria, the experiment was conducted in a food laboratory that did not account for the length of mealtimes, pre-recess or post-recess lunch timing, nutrition education, or other factors related to mealtime eating behaviors. at school.
Full details can be found in the article “Effects of potato provision on vegetable intake in school-age children,” published in the journal Nutrients (https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15214496). Funding was provided by the Potato Research and Education Association; The funders played no role in the design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation of this study.
References
- Agarwal S, Fulgoni VL. Potato Consumption is Associated with Higher Diet Quality and Increased Nutrient Intake and Adequacy in U.S. Adolescents: NHANES 2001–2018 Analysis. Nutrients 2021, Volume 13, Page 2614. 2021;13(8):2614. doi:10.3390/NU13082614
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