Vegetables are some of the foods that were previously introduced in complementary feeding, and are very important for good nutrition. However, cases of children who do not like vegetables are frequent. One of the keys to breaking that trend would be let the child choose the vegetables he wants to eat.
If we allow them to freely choose which vegetable they would like to eat, we would help increase the consumption of these foods in children, according to researchers from the University of Granada.
The study points out that the bitter taste of calcium, very present in vegetables such as spinach and chard, cabbage, onion, thistle or broccoli, can be a sensory factor that has a very negative influence on infant consumption. But nevertheless, In my opinion you should not exclude, from the beginning, such foods from your diet.
This does not mean that after six months of the baby we already give them to try all those vegetables. Spinach and chard, for example, are not recommended until after 12 months, in the same way as cabbage.
Onion and thistle are foods that, due to their intense flavor, can displease younger children (in fact, they still dislike many adults). For broccoli I do not see any problem, and it can occur in many ways when children grow up (gratin with cheese, pasta, grilled with marsico ...) to make it more attractive.
And after the year or two years, all these foods would be introduced in different ways and presentations so that the children discovered the new flavors and decided.
Returning to the study, to carry out the authors analyzed the main determinants of vegetable consumption in 150 children under six years, evaluating the effectiveness of a strategy called 'Provision of choice', which is to allow children to choose at each meal what type of vegetables they wanted to take.
The researchers verified that with this 'technique' Vegetable consumption increased up to 80%. They also observed that those children who were allowed to choose the vegetables they wanted to eat ingested 20 grams more, which means an average of 40 grams more per day between lunch and dinner.
The main author of this research, pioneer in Spain, is Paloma Rohlfs Domínguez, from the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Granada, and the work was directed by Professor Jaime Vila Castelar, from the Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment.
His work has also revealed that the sensitivity of the little ones towards the bitter taste of glucosinolates contained in vegetables, indicated by the sensitivity towards a chemical component, can be one of the causes that many children reject vegetables.
Part of the results of this work have recently been accepted for publication in the international scientific journal 'Brain Research Bulletin' and are available for reading online in 'Siencedirect'.
In any case, to get to the five servings of fruit and vegetables a day you need variety, so we will have to offer you varied vegetables and expand the range in which you can choose (also in school canteens, in children's menus of restaurants ...)
But no doubt leave them that, Let the children choose the vegetables they prefer, will make them eat more foods of this type and grow healthier.
