Can Commercials for Carrots Persuade High School Kids to Buy Them at Lunch?
How can you get high school students to choose healthy foods from their lunch cafeterias?
Researchers from the University of Minnesota tried gradually introducing more low-fat foods like fruits and vegetables along with the usual sodas, chips and burgers at ten high schools in the suburban St. Paul/Minneapolis. They paid student groups to promote the new foods through posters, videos, newspaper articles and test tastes.
Two years later, healthy foods made up 42% of the choices instead of 28%. Sales for low-fat foods increased by 10%, and overall sales and profits remained about the same. Students said they were more aware that healthy foods were available and more likely to choose them.
The Minneapolis team used ten similar suburban schools as a control. After two years, the cafeterias at the control schools were still serving only 28% healthy foods, and overall sales remained flat.
The authors of the study noted that the United States faces an epidemic of childhood obesity and yet most high school students do not study nutrition in class. This study appeared in the September 2004 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota tried gradually introducing more low-fat foods like fruits and vegetables along with the usual sodas, chips and burgers at ten high schools in the suburban St. Paul/Minneapolis. They paid student groups to promote the new foods through posters, videos, newspaper articles and test tastes.
Two years later, healthy foods made up 42% of the choices instead of 28%. Sales for low-fat foods increased by 10%, and overall sales and profits remained about the same. Students said they were more aware that healthy foods were available and more likely to choose them.
The Minneapolis team used ten similar suburban schools as a control. After two years, the cafeterias at the control schools were still serving only 28% healthy foods, and overall sales remained flat.
The authors of the study noted that the United States faces an epidemic of childhood obesity and yet most high school students do not study nutrition in class. This study appeared in the September 2004 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
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