Sensory nutrition education positively impacts willingness to try local vegetables in Western Massachusetts Head Start children

Abstract

The aim of the pilot study was to assess the extent to which the Massachusetts Farm Fresh (MAFF) Classroom Garden Project shifted preschool children's willingness to consume the target vegetables: red bell pepper, carrot, broccoli, and peas. MAFF intervention, conducted in Spring 2011 in four Head Start classrooms in Western Massachusetts, targeted preschool children (n=64) and included baseline, 4‐week intervention, follow‐up. The Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)‐guided MAFF incorporated a weekly sensory nutrition curriculum delivered by trained nutrition students and introduced the children to the four vegetables through story‐telling with puppets and mystery vegetable bag exploration and a classroom garden bulletin board. Pre‐post vegetable cup measures and observed Willingness to Explore and Taste Rating Scale provided consumption and willingness data. At baseline, the highest acceptability was for carrots defined as the number of children willing‐to‐try (94%) and finished the 30 g serving (59%). Pre‐post acceptability for vegetables shifted and the proportion of children “not willing to try” decreased from 11% to 3.8% (red bell pepper), from 7.4 to 5.6% (pea pods), and 5.6% to 3.7% (broccoli). Results show baseline variability and suggest favorable post‐intervention shifts in sensory‐exploration focused acceptability among vegetables in Head Start children. Project funded by USDA HATCH.