The 10-Minute Trick to Getting Kids to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

A common complaint among parents is the constant struggle to get their kids to eat enough fruits and vegetables.

While we know fruit and vegetable intake is important for children's health, survey data consistently shows that most children fall short of meeting the recommended daily consumption of these foods.

What if all we need to do was extend the duration of family meals by 10 minutes — to around 30 minutes in total? According to a recent randomised clinical trial conducted in Germany, giving children 50% more time to eat their dinner can significantly boost their consumption of fruits and vegetables.

The study involved 50 parent-child dyads who had two evening meals under different conditions in a laboratory setting: regular and longer. In the regular condition, each dyad ate for the same amount of time as their reported regular mealtime duration. In the longer condition, each dyad had 50% more time to eat.

The meal consisted of typical German foods including bread, cold cuts, cheese, butter, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. The fruits and vegetables were presented in separate bowls and plates on the table in bite-size portions.

Water and a sugar-sweetened drink were provided throughout the meal. The foods and beverages served during the experiment were based on the child’s preferences, which were reported in the online pre-assessment.

The dyads were free to choose what and how much they ate. Video cameras recorded meal intake. Trained observers reviewed the videos and recorded food consumption, including the number of fruits and vegetables consumed by each child. The child’s eating rate (bites per minute over the regular mealtime duration) and satiety (self-reported on a visual analogue scale) were also measured. At the end of the meal all participants were offered a choice of dessert — either chocolate pudding or fruit yoghurt and cookies.

Just 10 more minutes. In the extended duration scenario, children ate:

• more pieces of fruits and vegetables
  
• at a slower rate
  
• reported higher satiety

And the best part? There was no difference in dessert consumptionbetween the two conditions.

However, it is worth noting that in the extended duration setting, children drank more water and sugar sweetened beverages. So parents should be mindful of the choice of beverage provided — water being best.

So how much more fruit and veg did the kids actually eat? The fruit and vegetables were provided in portions of around 10 g. They consumed an extra:

• 3.5 pieces of fruit 
• 4 pieces of vegetables

This is translates to roughly 100 g more — so about another medium serving.

So why does extending the mealtime duration increase fruit and vegetable intake? According to the study authors, the answer isn't solely attributed to prolonged exposure, as other elements like bread and meat intake remained unaffected. Instead they propose the notion that the provision of bite-sized portions of fruits and vegetables enhances the accessibility and convenience of these foods, making them more appealing to children. Additional analyses showed that in the longer meal time more vegetables were consumed right from the outset, while the additional fruit was typically consumed during the extra time.

As always we need to acknowledge some limitations of the study:

• artificial setting of the meal laboratory may not be generalised to real-life eating environments
• experiment included pairs of parents and children, as opposed to the entire family, which might have different dynamics that could influence intake
• video observation may lead to more socially desirable eating behaviour
• sample size was relatively small
• duration of the intervention was short and there was a lack of follow-up measures
• study population has limited ethnic and socioeconomic diversity

The authors suggest that future studies should replicate their findings in more naturalistic settings, with larger and more diverse samples, longer interventions, and longer-term outcomes.

The Bottomline — extending meals may improve the nutritional quality of a child’s diet and positively influence eating behaviour, all without any extra effort or expense. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should force our kids to eat or stay at the table longer than they want to. The idea is to create a positive and pleasant environment that encourages them to eat more fruits and vegetables naturally.