Title: A systematic review of practices to promote vegetable acceptance in the first three years of life
| Authors: | Coraline Barends, Hugo Weenen, Janet Warren, Marion M. Hetherington , Cees de Graaf, and Jeanne H.M. de Vries |
| Published: | 2019 |
| Journal: | Appetite |
Although an increasing body of evidence has shown the importance for children to eat enough vegetables, most children do not meet vegetable intake recommendations and no clear universal guidelines exist on the best method of introducing and promoting vegetables in infants and toddlers.
Systematic review
The objective of the systematic review was to identify strategies to promote vegetable acceptance in children from the start of the complementary feeding until 3 years of age.
46 papers, 25 experimental (intervention) studies and 21 observational studies were included in the review.
Results
Based on the papers reviewed, it is concluded that introducing vegetables at the beginning of complementary feeding, giving a different type of vegetable every day and ensuring repeated exposure to the same vegetable following an interval of a few days are the most promising strategies to promote vegetable intake in children from the start of complementary feeding until the age of three years.
The review also concludes that single vegetables should be used when familiarizing children to vegetables. Other practices that contribute to better vegetable acceptance and intake include gradual introduction of vegetables, parental modelling, visual exposure and breast feeding.
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