Countering fussy eating: New app helps kids eat more vegetables

06 Aug 2018 --- A team of UK-based researchers has a developed a novel app for kids aimed at getting them to eat more healthily and try more vegetables. The app game, Vegetable Maths Masters is designed to expose children between the ages of 3 and 7 years old to vegetables via a mathematics gaming app where children can practice core maths skills developed in KS1. Depending on the child’s age they can count with vegetables, draw numbers with vegetables, add/ subtract with vegetables and practice multiplication and division skills.

Eating more vegetables is associated with the prevention of chronic illnesses in later life, but fewer than 1 in 10 children in the UK consume the recommended amounts, with many children rejecting vegetables on sight.

The team of psychologists from Aston, Loughborough and De Montfort Universities, in conjunction with the British Psychological Society, used focus groups and interviews with parents, children and teachers, to discuss their views on integrating strategies to support vegetable intake within an educational platform.

Dr. Claire Farrow, Aston University said: “We have developed an app which draws on psychological research to integrate different methods known to increase interest in vegetables and eagerness to try them.”

“These include repeated exposure to real images of vegetables, token rewards for playing with vegetables and ‘feeding’ them to other children/characters.”

“Social norms also influence food preferences, for example, if child characters in the game like and enjoy eating vegetables, research suggests that children are more likely to try them.”

To play the game, children choose either a child character, a teddy bear or a rabbit to play with and "feed" them vegetables throughout the game. Their character is happy and animated when they eat vegetables and gives positive verbal feedback. Children earn stars as they complete problems which can be traded for props to decorate an animated vegetable, such as a carrot with glasses, a wig, shoes and clothes.

Parents get a say in the game too, by selecting which vegetables (from a choice of 10) that they want children to play with.

Dr. Farrow, Aston University added: “The game is based around psychological research which suggests that children become less weary of vegetables and more willing to taste them the more that they are repeatedly exposed to them.”

"We will be conducting further research to explore the effectiveness of the app. Our preliminary evaluation is very promising and the results suggest that children who play the game are more likely to taste the vegetables that they play with in comparison to children who play with a control Maths app.”

“When we have spoken with parents in the past about fussy eating they have said that they would like more resources to support tackling fussy eating and help encourage children to taste new vegetables,” Dr. Farrow tells NutritionInsight. “There are many ways that parents can expose children to vegetables in fun ways (e.g. shopping, cooking, growing, playing games with vegetables) and apps like Vegetable Maths Masters are a useful additional resource for parents and teachers to use. Children live in an increasingly technological society and the reality is that many children are playing with apps already to support their learning; doing so with vegetables can be a healthy way to increase their exposure. Exposure to vegetables is key if children are to develop a liking for them, so I would hope that in the future the breadth of apps available which use vegetables does increase.”

In terms of a potential role for industry in going down this type of road, Dr. Farrow stresses responsibility. “There is certainly a role for industry in supporting families to make healthy food choices but parents need resources that are there to support them, not secretly to market things to them. This is one reason why Vegetable Maths Masters is completely free and advertisement free,” she says. “As a parent, it is frustrating to download apps for children that repeatedly include advertisements for children, or to use resources that are marketing things in the background. The food industry has a massive part to play in shaping what children eat and their food preferences: where industry do develop resources I would encourage them to do so without marketing and sales as their mission but with the needs of children and families at the heart of what they do; otherwise parents are unlikely to trust (or use) the resources,” she adds.

Professor Emerita Carol McGuiness, Chair of the British Psychological Society’s Education and Public Engagement Board said: “The British Psychological Society welcomes the successful launch of Vegetable Maths Masters. This fun mobile technology game for young children combines the best psychological evidence on encouraging children’s healthy eating habits with developing their early maths skills. We are delighted to be associated with funding the project and congratulate the design team for their innovative work.”