Masters Thesis

The effects of gamification and taste exposure on vegetable consumption in children

In 2013, it was reported that 42 million children around the world were considered overweight or obese (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2015). This is a major problem considering childhood eating patterns are predictive of adult eating patterns (Lake, Mathers, Rugg-Gunn, & Adamson, 2006). Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to increase healthy eating in school-aged children using gamification via the FIT Game and repeated taste exposure of non-preferred vegetables. Previous research has demonstrated a significant increase in fruit and vegetable consumption using the FIT Game, but these effects have not always been maintained (Joyner et al., 2015). Therefore, it is important to investigate additional strategies, such as taste exposure, that may help sustain healthy eating. The current study conducted a 10-week version of the FIT Game that targeted vegetable consumption with third-fifth graders. Taste exposure sessions were run concurrently with 13 students who demonstrated low preference and consumption of vegetables. Results of this study demonstrated that while FIT Game students consumed more vegetables than the control group, the addition of taste exposure sessions resulted in greater increases in consumption and increased preference even for non-targeted vegetables.

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