title: Increasing portion sizes of fruits and vegetables in an elementary school lunch program can increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
abstract: Increasing portion size can increase children's consumption of food. The goal of this study was to determine whether increasing the portion sizes of fruits and vegetables in an elementary school cafeteria environment would increase children's consumption of them. We measured each child's consumption of the fruit and vegetables served in a cafeteria line on a control day (normal cafeteria procedures) and on two intervention days. When we increased the portion size of 3 of the 4 fruits and vegetables by about 50%, children who took those foods increased their consumption of them. Although this was an effective strategy for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among students who took those foods, many children chose not to take any fruits or vegetables. Further efforts are needed to increase children's selection and consumption of fruits and vegetables in an environment of competing foods of higher palatability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, 1334 Eckles Ave., St. Paul, MN 55112, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, 1334 Eckles Ave., St. Paul, MN 55112, USA.
authors.forename: Marla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reicks
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 321 Nineteenth Avenue South, Suite 3-161, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Redden
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Traci
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, 231 Ruttan Hall 1994 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Elton
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mykerezi
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, 1334 Eckles Ave., St. Paul, MN 55112, USA. Electronic address: zvickers@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Zata
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vickers
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards; D004435:Eating; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D005522:Food Services; D005638:Fruit; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D062409:Lunch; D008297:Male; D064787:Portion Size; D012574:Schools; D014675:Vegetables
keywords: Elementary school students; Portion size; Vegetable consumption