Start 'Em Young on Healthy Foods

A very interesting study was recently completed that shows how critical it is for parents to begin early indoctrination of healthy eating patterns in their children, both by example and by providing access to organic fruits and vegetables for their children. It appears that lifestyle patterns and appetites are engrained in children before the age of five. This can apply to both wholesome choices and poor food choices, thus training our children's culinary appetites from a young age may be the best defense against such common public health epidemics as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and others.I was extremely impressed with my granddaughter's pediatrician who highly encourages ALL of his new parent's to make their own organic baby food for their children. Yes it is a bit time consuming, but the health benefits far out-weigh any inconvenience that might be experienced, and most find that the trips to their pediatrician's office happen less and less often. Making those "first" foods healthy is the best way to set the eating patterns for your children.

I read once about studies conducted on children from cultures where sugar was never consumed. The first time they tasted a sweet, they were repulsed and spit out what they were given. However, after being offered sweets multiple times, they eventually developed a taste (addiction) for them. Foods high in sugar, salt, and fat (harmful fats - typical fast food fare) are not naturally desired by human beings. One of the most telling facets of the study dissected in today's post is the fact that dietary intervention encouraging the consumption of more fruits and veggies had little effect on obese kids who had already established a deeply entrenched love for junky foods. If we as adults and parents can present quality nutritious foods to our children, very early in life, and not let them get a taste for unhealthy foods, nature will simply take its course and they will not become hooked on the addictive twaddle we mistakenly call food in this culture.


Parents shape whether their children learn to eat fruits and vegetables
By Diane Duke Williams

Aug. 6, 2008 -- Providing fruits for snacks and serving vegetables at dinner can shape a preschooler's eating patterns for his or her lifetime.

To combat the increasing problem of childhood obesity, researchers are studying how to get preschoolers to eat more fruits and vegetables. According to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, one way is early home interventions -- teaching parents how to create an environment where children reach for a banana instead of potato chips.

"We know that parents have tremendous influence over how many fruits and vegetables their children eat," says Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D., a professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. "When parents eat more fruits and vegetables, so do their children. When parents eat and give their children high fat snacks or soft drinks, children learn these eating patterns instead."

Haire-Joshu and researchers at Saint Louis University School of Public Health tested a program that taught parents in their homes how to provide preschool children easy access to more fruits and vegetables and examined whether changes in what the parents ate affected what their children consumed. The study was published in the July issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.

"This research shows that it's important to communicate with parents in real world settings," Haire-Joshu says. "They control the food environment for their young child. This environment is key to not only what children eat today but how they will eat in the future."

Past research has shown that diets high in fruits and vegetables are associated with a lower risk of obesity. Previous studies also have established that children learn to like and eat vegetables at a young age -- before they turn 5 years old.

In this five-year study in rural, southeast Missouri, 1,306 parents and children between the ages of 2 and 5 participating in Parents As Teachers, a national parent education program, were randomly assigned to two groups. One group enrolled in the High 5 for Kids program, and the other group received standard visits from Parents as Teachers. In the High 5 for Kids group, parents first completed a pretest interview about fruit and vegetable consumption.

Parent educators then visited the home four times, providing examples of parent-child activities designed around nutrition, such as teaching the child the names and colors of various fruits and vegetables and having the child select a variety of fruits and vegetables for breakfast. At each visit, parents also received materials and informational handouts with suggestions for improving feeding practices and the food environment in the home. Many of these materials were tailored to the individual patterns of that parent, with suggestions for how to improve his or her specific intake and that of their child.

Additionally, children were given four High 5 for Kids sing-along-stories with audiocassettes and coloring books.

The same parent interviewed before the intervention completed a telephone survey to determine changes in the number of fruits and vegetables eaten and behaviors of both the preschool children and parent. The average time between the before and after intervention survey was seven months.

Parents in the High 5 for Kids group ate significantly more fruits and vegetables, and a change in the parent's servings of fruits and vegetables predicted a change in the child's diet, too. An increase of one fruit or vegetable serving per day in a parent was associated with an increase of half a fruit or vegetable serving per day in his or her child. These parents also reported an increase in fruit and vegetable knowledge and availability of fruits and vegetables in the home.

Although the High 5 for Kids program was effective in improving fruit and vegetable intake in children of normal weight, overweight children in this group did not eat more of these foods. "Overweight children have already been exposed to salty, sweet foods and learned to like them," says Haire-Joshu, who also holds an appointment at the School of Medicine as a professor. "To keep a child from becoming overweight, parents need to expose them early to a variety of healthy foods and offer the foods many times."

Haire-Joshu says many children today are taught patterns that lead to obesity. "We want families to provide their child with an environment in which they not only learn how to eat healthy but have the opportunity to practice what they learn," she says. "And by partnering with Parents As Teachers, we now can disseminate this program to their sites nationwide. This further impacts healthy eating patterns in parents and their preschool children."

http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/12106.html