Thaindian News

London, May 5 (ANI): Want to make your kid eat more apples, strawberries and grapes? Well, then try to make the fruits look good.

A new study, published in journal Appetite, studied nearly 100 pupils in the Netherlands and Belgium to reach the above conclusion, reports The BBC.

In the study, children aged four to seven were presented apples, strawberries and seedless grapes in different ways.

When given a choice, the children plumped for these fruits more readily when they were made into a hedgehog - skewered with colourful cocktail sticks that were pierced into a watermelon.

The same cubed fruits didn’t entice the children’s palates when they were simply offered on a white dish.

The study found that kids ate nearly twice as much of the “fun” fruit, even though they said they understood that both fruit options should taste the same.

Attractive packaging and “perhaps adding a little toy, like the toy that comes with a Happy Meal, to the packaging could make this kind of snack even more appealing”, the boffins told the journal.

“It is probably necessary for parents and food producers to remain innovative,” they added.

Dr Laura Wyness of the British Nutrition Foundation said: “It is advisable to try to make food as appetising as possible.

“How food looks probably does have quite an influence, especially for kids who are getting used to different types of food.” (ANI)