Accepted Manuscript Shopping for food with children: A strategy for directing their choices toward novel foods containing vegetables Xavier Allirot, Edurne Maiz, Elena Urdaneta PII:
S0195-6663(17)30782-1
DOI:
10.1016/j.appet.2017.09.008
Reference:
APPET 3610
To appear in:
Appetite
Received Date: 29 May 2017 Revised Date:
24 July 2017
Accepted Date: 9 September 2017
Please cite this article as: Allirot X., Maiz E. & Urdaneta E., Shopping for food with children: A strategy for directing their choices toward novel foods containing vegetables, Appetite (2017), doi: 10.1016/ j.appet.2017.09.008. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
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TITLE: Shopping for food with children: a strategy for directing their choices toward novel
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foods containing vegetables.
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AUTHORS: Xavier Allirota,*, Edurne Maiza, Elena Urdanetaa
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Basque Culinary Center, Paseo Juan Avelino Barriola, 101 – 20009 San Sebastián, Spain.
9 CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Xavier Allirot PhD
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Email:
[email protected]
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Phone: +34 943 574 533
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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT ABSTRACT
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Involving children in the different steps of meal preparation has been suggested as a strategy
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for enhancing dietary habits in childhood. It has previously been shown that involving children
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in cooking can increase their willingness to taste novel foods and direct their food choices
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towards foods containing vegetables. The objective of the present study was to assess the effect
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of involving children in food purchasing on food choices, intake, liking and appetite. A
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between-subject experiment was conducted with 86 children (from 8 to 10 years old). Forty-
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three children (PURCHASE group) participated in a workshop dedicated to purchasing the
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necessary ingredients online for the preparation of three unfamiliar foods containing
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vegetables: apple and beetroot juice, zucchini tortilla sandwich and spinach cookies. Forty-
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three children (CONTROL group) participated instead in a creativity workshop. Afterwards, all
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the children were invited to choose, for an afternoon snack, between three familiar vs.
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unfamiliar foods: orange vs. apple and beetroot juice, potatoes vs. zucchini tortilla sandwich
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and chocolate vs. spinach cookie. The mean number of unfamiliar foods chosen per child was
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higher in the PURCHASE (0.70 ± 0.14) vs. CONTROL (0.19 ± 0.07) group (P = 0.003). The
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liking for 1 of the 3 unfamiliar foods was higher in the PURCHASE group (P < 0.05). We did
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not find any difference between the two groups in food intake estimation and in the levels of
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subjective appetite. This study demonstrates that involving children in purchasing food can
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help in directing their food choices towards unfamiliar foods containing vegetables. It
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highlights the importance of involving children in the different steps of meal preparation for
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decreasing food neophobia.
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KEYWORDS
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Food purchasing
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Food neophobia
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Food choices
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Vegetables
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Willingness to taste
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Great attention is currently being paid to children's eating behaviour and how to change it to be
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more healthy (DeCosta, Moller, Frost, & Olsen, 2017). In particular, increasing vegetable
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intakes in children is a key objective for both parents and health professionals (Jaime & Lock,
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2009; Russell, Worsley, & Campbell, 2015). As low intakes of fruit and vegetables in
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childhood track into adolescence and adulthood, many campaigns are trying to increase the
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intake of these healthy foods in children (Bucher, Siegrist, & van der Horst, 2014). The
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reluctance to eat novel foods, called food neophobia, is associated with a lower vegetable
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liking and intake and with an overall less healthy diet (Cooke, Wardle, & Gibson, 2003;
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Falciglia, Couch, Gribble, Pabst, & Frank, 2000; Russell & Worsley, 2013). As a result, trying
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to decrease food neophobia is a frequently used strategy for enhancing diet quality in children.
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Involving children in the different steps of meal preparation has been suggested as a strategy
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for enhancing dietary habits in childhood (Nelson, Corbin, & Nickols-Richardson, 2013) and
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particularly for reducing food neophobia (Allirot, da Quinta, Chokupermal, & Urdaneta, 2016).
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Involvement in meal preparation at home has been shown to be associated with overall better
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diet quality (Chu, Storey, & Veugelers, 2014), more eating enjoyment and lower levels of
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picky eating (van der Horst, 2012). Involving children in cooking can increase their willingness
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to taste novel foods and direct their food choices towards foods containing vegetables (Allirot
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et al., 2016). The importance of children’s involvement is also recognized by parents (Casey &
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Rozin, 1989) and by food experts (Fordyce-Voorham, 2011).
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Studies assessing the links between child involvement in meal preparation and diet quality has
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mostly focused on one step of meal preparation: cooking (Chu et al., 2014; Leech et al., 2014;
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van der Horst, Ferrage, & Rytz, 2014). Little information is available on involvement in other
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steps. In particular, little is known about the links between children’s involvement in food
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shopping and diet quality. One study (Nozue et al., 2016) showed that children (10-11y)
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involved in food-related activities (including cooking and shopping) showed more favourable
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food intake and cooking skills than children who are not involved in food preparation
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activities. On the contrary, in another study with female adolescents (11-18y), food shopping
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frequency was related to greater consumption of fried foods (Larson, Story, Eisenberg, &
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Neumark-Sztainer, 2006). Other studies investigating food shopping behaviours in childhood
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have focused on the children’s influences on in-store purchases (O'Dougherty, Story, & Stang,
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2006), without assessing the links with food purchasing and the quality of foods consumed by
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children. Even if little evidence exists, shopping skills are considered by some authors as
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essential food skills to be included in healthy eating programs (Fordyce-Voorham, 2009). To
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the best of our knowledge, the effects of involving children in shopping activities as a strategy
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for enhancing their eating behaviours have not been studied yet.
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The objective of the present study was to assess, in an experimental setting, the effects of
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involving children in food purchasing on their food choices, food intake, food liking and
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appetite. Specifically, we examined the short-term effect of a one-hour food shopping
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workshop on children’s willingness to select and to taste unfamiliar food items containing
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vegetables for an afternoon snack. We hypothesized that involving children in purchasing
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foods could help in directing their choices towards unfamiliar foods containing vegetables. As
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exactly the same study design was used in the present study and in a previous one assessing the
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effects of involving children in cooking (Allirot et al., 2016), we also compared the effects of
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food purchasing involvement with cooking involvement on children’s willingness to select and
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to taste unfamiliar food items.
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METHODS
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Participants
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The study sample comprised 86 children aged between 8 and 10 years. They were recruited
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from three conveniently selected schools in Gipuzkoa (northern Spain). Parents or legal
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guardians of children were sent a letter inviting their son/daughter to take part in the study.
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School principals then sent the research team the contact details of all parents or legal
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guardians who expressed an interest in being involved in the study. Afterwards, we called the
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parents or legal guardians in order to explain the study and to request that they complete an
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online questionnaire about food purchasing, cooking involvement, eating habits, and food
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allergies of their children. Questions on food purchasing, children’s eating habits and food
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allergies, were developed by the researchers. Other questions on cooking involvement, Food
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Neophobia were extracted from other papers (Fernández-Ruiz, Claret, & Chaya, 2013). Based
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on two items: “how often do you purchase food?” and “how often does your child go with you
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for purchasing food?”, weekly food purchasing frequency of the child was calculated. The item
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to assess cooking involvement (i.e. “how often does your child help you to prepare a meal?”)
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was rated on a 4-point Likert scale with options ranging from once monthly or less (1) to more
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than once a week (4) (van der Horst et al., 2014). Several items were also included in the
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questionnaire in order to evaluate children’s eating habits: (a) the frequency of eating in the
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canteen (5-point scale: from never to every school day), (b) the frequency of fruit intake (5-
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point scale: from less than once a week to more than once a day), (c) the frequency of
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vegetable intake (5-point scale: from less than once a week to more than once a day), and (d)
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the liking of the vegetables that will be later used in the experiment was assessed with the
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following questions: “does your child like beetroot / zucchini / spinach?” (6-point scale: 1 =
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he/she hates it; 2 = he/she don’t like it; 3 = he/she likes it; 4 = he/she likes it very much; 5 =
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he/she never tasted it; 6 = I don’t know).
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Seven items from the Food Neophobia Scale (Fernández-Ruiz et al., 2013; Pliner & Hobden,
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1992): were also used to measure children’s food neophobia: 1- my child is constantly
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sampling new and different foods (reverse item); 2- my child does not trust new foods; 3- if my
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child does not know what is in a food, he/she won’t try it; 4- at dinner parties, he/she will try a
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new food (reverse item); 5- he/she is afraid to eat things he/she has never had before; 6- he/she
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is very particular about the foods he/she will eat; 7- he/she will eat almost anything (reverse
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item). Based on the judgment of various authors (Cooke, Carnell, & Wardle, 2006), some items
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were eliminated from the original version, due to lack of suitability for the child population,.
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Parents answered the items depending on their degree of agreement with them on a 7-point
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Likert scale, with options ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Scores were
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obtained by summing the values for each of the items. Scores could range from seven (low
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child's trait neophobia score) to forty-nine (high child's trait neophobia score). A question
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about children’s food allergies was also included in the questionnaire. Children presenting
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allergies to any of the foods included in the experiment were excluded.
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Based on a pilot study held in our laboratory, we calculated that a minimum sample size of
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eighty four (84) subjects was necessary to observe a significant difference in willingness to
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taste vegetables in two different conditions with a significance level of 0.05 and power of 80%.
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The online questionnaire was sent to 99 parents of children who wanted to take part in the
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study. From them, 93 completed the online questionnaire and three children were rejected due
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to food allergy. Finally, 90 children aged between 8 and 10 years were included in the
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experiment that was carried out between March and May 2016. In all cases, parents or legal
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guardians explicitly authorized the child’s participation in the study by a written informed
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consent. The study complied with the Second Declaration of Helsinki and it also obtained the
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approval of the Ethical Commission of Basque Culinary Center- Mondragon Unibertsitatea
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(005/2014).
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Study design
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Experimental sessions were conducted at Basque Culinary Center (BCC) in San Sebastian
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(Spain). The study was conducted using a between-subject design. Sessions were organized in
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group format (five children each; 18 groups altogether) and children came only once to the
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BCC to take part in the experiment. The 18 groups were randomly allocated to one of the two
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possible conditions (i.e. PURCHASE or CONTROL). Due to absence on the day of session,
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four children did not participate. Hence, 86 children (16 groups of 5 children and 2 groups of 4
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children; one group per day) participated in the study. Those children showed up at the BCC
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between 4:30pm and 5:00pm. Children were asked to refrain from eating until after the meal.
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The experimental sessions included two different parts: (a) a one-hour purchasing food
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workshop (in the PURCHASE condition) or a one-hour creative workshop (in the CONTROL
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condition), and (b) the consumption of an afternoon snack (both conditions).
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Purchasing workshop (PURCHASE condition)
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Forty three children participated in the PURCHASE condition (purchasing workshop). The
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purchasing workshop consisted of purchasing online the necessary ingredients for the
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preparation of three unfamiliar food items containing vegetables: apple/beetroot juice, zucchini
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tortilla sandwich and spinach cookies. Those ingredients are described in Table 1.
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Table 1: Necessary ingredients for the realisation of the purchasing workshop (PURCHASE
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condition). Ingredients - Apples (2 kg) - Raw peeled beetroot (100 g)
Zucchini tortilla sandwich
- Unpeeled zucchini (275 g) - Eggs (5 units) - Olive Oil (2 tablespoons) - Salt (6 pinches) - Bread (1 slice of toast)
Spinach cookies
- Spinach (125 g) - Wheat flour (440 g) - Sugar (250 g) - Vanilla extract (2.5 tablespoons) - Baking powder (16 g) - Matcha green tea powder (2.5 tablespoons) - Chopped pistachios (125 g) - Softened butter (315 g) - Eggs (2.5 units)
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Name of the food item Apple/beetroot juice
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The workshop was completed under the supervision of two researchers from the BCC in the
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experimental kitchen of the BCC. The children from each group were positioned around a
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table. The objective of the workshop was first explained. . Then, the co-creation process of the
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shopping list between the children and the researchers began: (1) the children were first asked
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to guess the ingredients necessary for each of the food items; then, (2) the correct list of
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ingredients and the recipe for each food item were presented to the children; finally (3), the
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shopping list, including all the ingredients of the three food items was displayed on a screen in
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the room. After completing the shopping list, the children purchased all of the ingredients
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online, using a HP 250 G2 (15.6”) (one per child) connected to the website of a Basque
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supermarket chain. The children were asked to add to their virtual basket all the ingredients of
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the shopping list. They were asked to choose the less expensive items and to select the correct
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quantity. The researchers supervised this task and the children were free to ask the researchers
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for help. Once all children had added the correct ingredients to their baskets, a real online
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purchase was completed collectively (one per group). Finally, the real ingredients were brought
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into the room by the researchers, who explained that they had received those bought by another
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group of children the day before. The children were then presented each ingredient and were
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asked to classify them per recipe: apple/beetroot juice, zucchini tortilla sandwich and spinach
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cookies.
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Creative workshop (CONTROL condition)
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Forty-three children participated in the CONTROL condition (creative workshop). Two
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researchers from the BCC were in charge of carrying out the workshop in a room furnished
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with a table, chairs and a whiteboard. The first part of the workshop consisted of drawing a
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dish including a vegetable or a fruit, as might be designed by a Chef, and in presenting orally
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this drawing to the other children. The second part consisted in placing 19 photos of foods in a
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pyramid in order to create a personal nutritional pyramid. The results were then discussed
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between children and researchers. Finally, the last part of the workshop consisted of a game: in
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turn, each child had to think of a food item and the others had to guess what it was, using
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closed questions.
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Afternoon snack (both conditions)
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When both workshops (purchasing or creative) ended, children were invited to take a short
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break of 15 minutes outdoors while researchers arranged the afternoon snack. Once the break
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was finished, the children came into the room individually in order to choose their food for the
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afternoon snack among six food items placed on a table (i.e. two types of juices, two types of
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tortilla sandwiches and two types of cookies). Each child should pick one juice, one tortilla
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sandwich and one cookie. Three familiar and unfamiliar food items were displayed so as to
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evaluate the effect of the purchasing workshop on the willingness to choose an unfamiliar food
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composed of vegetables. Familiar food items were orange juice, potato tortilla sandwich and
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chocolate cookie, while apple/beetroot juice, zucchini tortilla sandwich and spinach cookie
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were considered as unfamiliar food items. The latter options were selected by the chefs from
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the BCC and parents of 8-10 year old children. The description of these food items is available
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in a previous study (Allirot et al., 2016). Nonetheless, the 86 children of this study were asked
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if the presented food items were familiar or unfamiliar for them prior to the experimental
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session. To assess familiarity, the percentage of affirmative responses to the question “Have
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you ever tasted this food before today?” was considered. Results are shown in Table 2. For the
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three a priori familiar foods the levels of familiarity were all higher than 94% with no
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difference
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between the PURCHASE and the CONTROL group, while the levels of familiarity for the
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three a priori unfamiliar foods (i.e., apple/beetroot juice, zucchini tortilla sandwich and spinach
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cookie) were 9.3%, 20.9%, and 4.6% respectively with no difference between the PURCHASE
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and the CONTROL group.
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Table 2: Level of familiarity with the food items proposed for the afternoon snack.
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PURCHASE CONTROL group group (n = 69) (n = 68) 97.7 100 95.4 Orange juice 9.3 4.6 13.9 Apple/beetroot juice 98.8 100 97.7 Potato tortilla sandwich 20.9 18.6 23.2 Zucchini tortilla sandwich 94.1 93.0 95.3 Chocolate chip cookie 4.6 4.6 4.6 Spinach cookie 1 210 Familiarity is reported as the percentage of children answering “Yes” to
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Familiarity1 (%)
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you ever tasted this food before today?”.
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CONTROL groups.
chi-square value2
P2
χ2(1) = 2.04 0.15 χ2(1) = 2.20 0.14 2 χ (1) = 1.01 0.31 χ2(1) = 2.81 0.59 2 χ (1) = 0.21 0.65 χ2(1) = 0.00 1.00 the question: “Have
P and chi-square values are results for the Chi-square test comparing PURCHASE and
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Regarding the procedure for food selection, several considerations were made: (a) all food
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items were placed on a table and clearly labelled, (b) white plastic plates and transparent plastic
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cups were used to aid the recognition of food items, (c) the sequence of presenting both
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familiar and unfamiliar food items was randomly decided, and (d) the researcher always used
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the same questions (i.e.“For your afternoon snack, which juice do you want? You can choose
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between an orange juice and an apple and beetroot juice. Now, which tortilla sandwich do you
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want? You can choose between a potato tortilla sandwich and a zucchini tortilla sandwich.
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Finally, which cookie do you want? You can choose between a chocolate cookie and a spinach
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cookie”). No additional information concerning the food items was provided during this
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process. All foods were placed in a tray after making the choice and children were taken to the
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kitchen in order to eat the afternoon snack. Once all members of the group had completed their
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selection, children were told they could eat whatever they wanted. The only rule for the
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afternoon snack was that they could not swap food items among them or having someone
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else’s foods. However, all children were sat together at a table and it was permitted to talk
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among themselves or with the researchers while having the afternoon snack. Once all the
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members of the group indicated they ended eating, they were given the option to taste the food
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items that were not initially selected.
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During the experimental session drinking water was permitted anytime. The session finished
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when children declared having finished eating, usually between 6:30pm and 7:00pm. Before
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leaving the BCC, all children were rewarded with an apron to express our gratitude for their
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participation.
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Measurements
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The following measurements were taken into consideration in the PURCHASE and in the
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CONTROL conditions.
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During the experimental session subjective hunger and satiety was measured three times: prior
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to the beginning of the workshop (T0), once the workshop had finished (T1) and when all the
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members of the group asserted having ended their afternoon snack (T2). Bennet and Blisset’s
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“Teddy the Bear” hunger and satiety scale was employed, which is adapted for primary school
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children (Bennett & Blissett, 2014). “Teddy the Bear” is a scale where five black and white
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cartoon bears silhouettes and their stomach area represent different levels of satiety. Black
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circles with different sizes in the bear’s stomach area symbolize varying amounts of “food”.
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The bigger the circle, the more food that has been ingested and consequently, the satiety level
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of the bear. Together with the silhouettes, a writing description of the bear’s level of hunger
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and satiety was placed on a 5-point Likert scale with options ranging from not satiated at
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all/very hungry to not hungry at all/very full. The scale was translated to Spanish and the
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children’s comprehension of the scale has been tested in a previous study (Allirot et al., 2016).
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The scales were presented on a laptop HP 250 G2 (15.6”) and FIZZ Sensory Software 2.47B
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by Biosystèmes (Couternon, France) was used for automatic data capture. The following
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explanation was given by the researchers before the children answered the scale: “I was
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wondering if you could tell me about how hungry you are feeling right now. If you think about
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your own tummy and how empty or full it is right now, which Teddy would you say shows me
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how hungry or how full you are feeling. There is no right or wrong answer; this is just about
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how you feel.” (Bennett & Blissett, 2014).
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Willingness to choose and taste unfamiliar foods containing vegetables
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After the food selection task, a photograph of each child’s tray was taken in order to know
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which food items they had chosen. This allowed us to count individually the quantity of
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unfamiliar food items chosen spontaneously in the first selection process each child made
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alone. Because after eating the first selected food items children were given the opportunity to
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taste the food items that were not selected at the beginning, we could determine the total
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number of unfamiliar food items chosen and tasted throughout the experimental session.
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Food intake estimation
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In order to estimate children’s food intake, two photos of the trays with the selected food items
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(lateral views) were taken exactly after the choice task and just after children had finished
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eating their afternoon snack. Afterwards, two evaluators rated from the images the percentage
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of intake for each food item (i.e. 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%) and consumption of juice,
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tortilla sandwich and cookie in addition to the entire afternoon snack. Likewise, we ascertained
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the percentage of consumption for each food item and the mean intake of the so called familiar
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foods (orange juice, potato tortilla sandwich and chocolate cookie) and of the unfamiliar items
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(apple/beetroot juice, zucchini tortilla sandwich and spinach cookie).
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Liking of the food items
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As for the liking of the food items eaten, children were requested to measure how much they
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liked the food items tasted throughout the several stages of the session. A validated illustrative
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5-point facial scale (de Ruyter, Katan, Kuijper, Liem, & Olthof, 2013; Leon, Couronne,
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Marcuz, & Köster, 1999) that ranged from a broad smile (extremely liked) through a neutral
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expression (maybe liked, maybe disliked) to a large frown (extremely disliked) was used to
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measure liking. This scale was also presented on a laptop HP 250 G2 (15.6”). Finally, we
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ascertained the mean liking of the so called familiar foods (orange juice, potato tortilla
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sandwich and chocolate cookie) and for the unfamiliar ones (apple/beetroot juice, zucchini
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tortilla sandwich and spinach cookie).
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Statistical analysis
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Statistical analyses were performed using JMP® 12.0.1 statistical software (SAS Institute Inc.,
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NC, USA). Student's unpaired t-tests were carried out for the variables of age, food neophobia
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score and the weekly frequency of food purchasing between the two groups for baseline values.
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Chi-square tests were performed for the other variables in order to detect differences between
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the PURCHASE and the CONTROL conditions: gender distribution, cooking involvement,
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frequency of eating in school restaurant, frequency of fruit intake, frequency of vegetable
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intake, liking of zucchini, spinach and beetroot.
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To assess the difference between the two groups for the percentage of children who
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spontaneously chose at least one unfamiliar food item amongst the three proposed, a chi-square
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test was used.
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Separate Univariate Analysis of Co-Variance (ANCOVA) were performed to analyze the
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differences between the PURCHASE and the CONTROL conditions for the following
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variables: mean number of unfamiliar food items spontaneously chosen by the children, mean
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number of unfamiliar food items children accepted to taste during the experimental session,
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subjective hunger/satiety scores, percentages of food intake estimated by photography, and
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liking of the food items. All ANCOVA models were adjusted for age. Likewise, the models for
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liking of the three unfamiliar food items were also adjusted for initial liking of beetroot,
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zucchini and spinach liking. The normality of the variables were previously checked using the
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Shapiro–Wilk test, and the two variables: “mean number of unfamiliar food items
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spontaneously chosen by the children” and “ mean number of unfamiliar food items children
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accepted to taste during the experimental session” were not normally distributed. As a result,
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for those two variables, we ran a non-parametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney two sample rank
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test to determine whether differences existed between the two conditions. Subsequently, we ran
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a rank-based nonparametric analysis of covariance with age as a covariate, following the
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Quade Method (Quade test) (Grouin, 2008).
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Furthermore, Student's paired t-tests were carried out in each group to examine the variations
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in hunger/satiety levels between T1 and T0 and between T2 and T1. As for the food intake
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estimation, Inter-rater reliability (IRR) was assessed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient
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(ICC) to analyze to what extent evaluators were consistent in their estimation. Mean values of
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intake estimations obtained from both evaluators were used for ANCOVA intake analyses.
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We also compared the effects of the food purchasing workshop with those of a cooking
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workshop reported in a previous study (Allirot et al., 2016) (the 69 children in the previous
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study participated in a cooking workshop: they prepared the same three unfamiliar food items
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than those used in the present one). We used non-parametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney two
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sample rank tests and nonparametric ANCOVA based on Quade’s test, with age as a covariate
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for comparing between the purchasing workshop and the cooking one (1) the mean number of
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unfamiliar food items spontaneously chosen by the children and (2) the mean number of
323
unfamiliar food items children accepted to taste during the experimental session.
324
All tests were two-sided and differences were considered significant at P < 0.05. Values are
325
expressed as mean ± standard error of mean (SEM).
326
RESULTS
327
A total of 86 children (mean age = 9.0 ± 0.1) participated in the study, of whom 30% were
328
boys (n = 26) and 70% were girls (n = 60) with no difference in gender distribution between
329
groups (P = 1,00). Table 3 shows the differences in baseline variables of participants in the two
330
groups: PURCHASE and CONTROL. No differences were found between the two groups.
332 333 334 335 336 337
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Table 3: Differences in baseline variables of participants in the two groups: PURCHASE (n =
339
43) and CONTROL (n = 43). P1
Age (years; mean ± SEM)
PURCHASE CONTROL Group Group 8.9 ± 0.1 9.1 ± 0.1
t or chi-square value1 t(84) = 1.68
0.09
Gender (% girls)
70
χ²(1) = 0.00
1.00
RI PT
70 23.7 ± 1.8
t(84) = 0.36
0.71
Weekly food purchasing frequency (mean 1.34 ± 0.63 ± SEM)
1.27 ± 0.60
t(84) = 0.55
0.58
Cooking involvement ≤ 1 time a month (%) 2 or 3 times a month (%) 1 time a week (%) ≥ 1 time a week (%) Frequency of eating in school restaurant Never (%) Once or twice a month (%) Once or twice a week (%) 3 or 4 times a week (%) Each school day (%)
39.0 36.6 19.5 4.9
χ2(3) = 4.56
0.21
26.8 2.4 9.8 0.0 61.0
χ2(4) = 5.73
0.22
9.5 14.3 33.3 21.4 21.4
4.9 29.3 22.0 31.7 12.2
χ2(4) = 5.61
0.23
Frequency of vegetable intake ≤ 1 time a week (%) 1 to 3 times a week (%) 4 to 6 times a week (%) 1 time a day (%) ≥ 1 time a day (%)
7.1 40.5 45.2 7.1 0.0
4.9 58.5 26.8 7.3 2.4
χ2(4) = 4.52
0.34
Liking zucchini Hates it (%) Do not like it (%) Likes it (%) Likes it very much (%) Never tasted (%) Do not know (%)
0.0 25.6 51.2 9.3 13.9 0.0
2.4 4.9 70.7 7.3 12.2 2.4
χ2(5) = 9.38
0.09
M AN U 35.7 4.8 16.7 4.7 38.1
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Frequency of fruit intake ≤ 1 time a week (%) 1 to 3 times a week (%) 4 to 6 times a week (%) 1 time a day (%) ≥ 1 time a day (%)
47.6 19.1 19.0 14.3
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Food Neophobia Score (score from 7 to 22.9 ± 1.7 49; mean ± SEM)
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0.0 30.9 7.1 0.0 30.9 30.9 results for the
0.0 26.8 4.9 χ2(5) = 4.04 0.26 0.0 51.2 17.1 test comparing PURCHASE and
CONTROL groups.
χ2(5) = 6.26
0.28
M AN U
341
2.4 26.8 51.2 2.4 12.2 4.1
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Liking beetroot Hates it (%) Do not like it (%) Likes it (%) Likes it very much (%) Never tasted (%) Do not know (%) 1 340 P, t-values and chi-square values are
0.0 30.9 38.1 4.8 7.1 19.0
SC
Liking spinach Hates it (%) Do not like it (%) Likes it (%) Likes it very much (%) Never tasted (%) Do not know (%)
342
Willingness to choose and taste unfamiliar foods containing vegetables
344
In the CONTROL group, 7 children (16%) spontaneously chose at least one unfamiliar food
345
item for the afternoon snack, while 20 children (46%) did the same in the PURCHASE group:
346
χ2(1) = 9.12; P = 0.0025.
347
Figure 1A represents the mean number of unfamiliar food items that spontaneously were
348
chosen by the children for the afternoon snack in the two conditions in the first selection they
349
made individually. Results of the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test showed a statistically
350
significant difference between the two conditions U = 9.78, z = 3.12, P = 0.002, in the mean
351
number of unfamiliar food items chosen, being higher in the PURCHASE condition (0.70 ±
352
0.14) compared to CONTROL (0.19 ± 0.07). This difference was still significant with the
353
Quade test, after introducing the age as a covariate F(1, 84) = 9.14, P = 0.003. No effect of the
354
age was found F(1,84) = 2,477, P = 0.119. Furthermore, in the figure 1B, the mean number of
355
unfamiliar food items tasted by the children during all the experimental session in both
356
conditions is observed, summing the first selection made individually and the second
357
opportunity to taste in group the food that were not selected at first. Results of the Wilcoxon-
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Mann-Whitney test showed no difference between the PURCHASE condition (2.16 ± 0.14)
359
and the CONTROL (2.00 ± 0.14), U = 1.06, z = 1.02, P = 0.304. With age as a covariate
360
(Quade test), there was also no difference F(1,84) = 1.24, P = 0.268, nor did we find an effect
361
of the age (F(1,84) = 0.212, P = 0.647).
362
We also compared the effects of the purchasing workshop with those of a cooking workshop
363
(Allirot et al., 2016). The children chose 0.74 ± 0.13 unfamiliar food items after the cooking
364
workshop, while 0.70 ± 0.14 were chosen after the food purchasing workshop. No difference
365
was found without any covariates U = 0.09, z = 0.30, P = 0.762 and with age as a covariate
366
F(1,110) = 0.27, P = 0.601). No effect of age was found F(1,110) = 1.89, P = 0.172).
367
The overall number of unfamiliar food items tasted by the children was slightly higher in the
368
cooking condition (2.43 ± 0.10) compared to the purchasing one (2.16 ± 0.14), but this
369
difference did not reach significance without any covariates U = 3.14, z = 1.77, P = 0.077 or
370
with age as a covariate F(1,110) = 3.06, P = 0.083. No effect of age was found F(1,110) = 0.39,
371
P = 0.532).
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Figure 1: A - Mean number of unfamiliar food items chosen by the children in the CONTROL
402
and in the PURCHASE conditions (1st choice made alone). B - Mean number of unfamiliar
403
food items tasted by the children (i.e. chosen for the afternoon snack or accepted to be tasted
404
after the end of the snack) (1st choice made alone + 2nd opportunity to taste in group) in the
405
CONTROL and in the PURCHASE conditions.
406
* P < 0.01.
407
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Subjective hunger and satiety
409 410 411
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412 413 414
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Figure 2: Hunger/Satiety score at T0 (before the beginning of the workshop), T1 (at the end of
423
the purchasing or creative workshop) and T2 (after all the children of the group declared
424
having finished their snack)1,2.
425
1
426
Hunger/Satiety.
427
2
428
PURCHASE and CONTROL conditions at T0, T1 and T2.
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422
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Each value is a 1 (very hungry/not satiated at all) to 5 (not hungry at all/very full) score for
NS means “No statistically Significant” where P values are results for the test comparing
429 430
In figure 2, hunger/satiety scores during the experimental session can be seen. No differences
431
were found between the two conditions PURCHASE and CONTROL without any covariates:
432
at baseline (T0) (F(1, 84) = 0.02, P = 0.89), after the workshop (T1) (F(1, 84) = 0.66, P = 0.42)
21
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and at the end of the afternoon snack (T2) (F(1,84) = 0.51, P = 0.48). Results were similar with
434
age as covariate: at T0 (F(1, 84) = 0.05, P = 0.82), at T1 (F(1, 84) = 0.70, P = 0.40) and at
435
T2(F(1,84) = 0.12, P = 0.72).
436
However, we observed a statistically significant reduction of these scores as a result of an
437
increase of hunger between baseline (T0) and after having finished the workshop (T1) in both
438
CONTROL (t(42) = 2.18, P = 0.03) and PURCHASE groups (t(42) = 4.38, P < 0.001). This
439
score decrease was not different between the two conditions (F(1, 84) = 0.89, P = 0.34).
440
Inversely, after having finished the workshop (T1) and once the afternoon snack was ended
441
(T2), a statistically significant increase of the mean scores was seen corresponding to a
442
decrease on the hunger level in both CONTROL (t(42) = 7.23, P < 0.001) and PURCHASE
443
groups (t(42) = 9.40, P < 0.001). However, this score increase was not different between the
444
two conditions (F(1,84) = 0.07, P = 0.78).
445
Food intake estimation
446
IRR was examined along with ICC. Excellent ICC values were observed: ICC Juice intake = 0.98 ,
447
ICC
448
adjustment between evaluators. For all subsequent analyses, mean values of intake estimations
449
obtained from both evaluators were used.
450
In table 4, the percentage of intake for each food item in each condition is provided. Regardless
451
of the children’s selections for each food group (i.e. tortilla sandwich, juice and cookie) there
452
were no differences on intake estimations between the two conditions with ANCOVA models
453
adjusted for age (P Tortilla sandwich intake = 0.704; P Juice intake = 0.804; P = 0.493; P Cookie intake = 0.493
454
and P Whole afternoon snack = 0.593) or without any covariates. If we look at each food item intake
455
estimation one by one, no differences were found between groups.
456
Concerning the mean consumption of the familiar items (orange juice, potato tortilla sandwich
457
and chocolate cookie), no difference was observed between the PURCHASE condition (97.4 ±
TE D
= 0.96 and ICC
Cookie intake
= 0.97. These values demonstrated a high level of
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Tortilla intake
M AN U
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1.2 %) and the CONTROL (91.1 ± 2.8 %), with age as a covariate (F(1, 81) = 3.18, P = 0.08)
459
or without any covariates (F(1, 81) = 2.30, P = 0.133).In addition, the mean intake estimation
460
of the unfamiliar food items (apple/beetroot juice, zucchini tortilla sandwich and spinach
461
cookie) was not different between the PURCHASE (76.0 ± 7.7 %) and CONTROL condition
462
(84.4 ± 10.5 %), with age as a covariate (F(1, 24) = 0.13, P = 0.716) or without any covariates
463
(F(1, 81) = 0.38, P = 0.543).
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23 Table 4: Mean percentage of food intake estimated by photography in the PURCHASE group (n = 43) and in the CONTROL group (n = 43).
PURCHASE group
CONTROL group
F
Juice1 Orange Apple/Beetroot
83.2 ± 4.8 (n = 43) 90.8 ± 4.8 (n = 30) 65.8 ± 9.2 (n = 13)
81.5 ± 5.4 (n = 43) 81.4 ± 6.1 (n = 36) 82.1 ± 11.8 (n = 7)
Tortilla sandwich1 Potato Zucchini
95.4 ± 2.8 (n = 43) 99.3 ± 0.7 (n = 36) 75.7 ± 15.8 (n = 7)
Cookie1 Chocolate Spinach
97.8 ± 2.2 (n = 43) 100.0 ± 0.0 (n = 35) 88.1 ± 11.8 (n = 8)
ANCOVA models without any covariates
RI PT
ANCOVA models adjusted for age
% of intake (mean ± SEM)
P
F
P
F(1, 84) = 0.06 F(1, 64) = 1.14 F(1, 18) = 0.49
0.804 0.289 0.630
F(1, 84) = 0.06 F(1, 64) = 1.38 F(1, 18) = 0.99
0.811 0.245 0.333
93.7 ± 3.0 (n = 43) 93.7 ± 3.0 (n = 43) (n = 0)
F(1, 84) = 0.14 F(1, 77) = 2.21 -
0.704 0.141 -
F(1, 84) = 0.18 F(1, 77) = 2.72 -
0.675 0.103 -
95.9 ± 2.5 (n = 43) 95.4 ± 2.6 (n = 41) 100.0 ± 0.0 (n = 2)
F(1, 84) = 0.47 F(1, 74) = 2.17 F(1, 8) = 0.80
0.493 0.145 0.401
F(1, 84) = 0.31 F(1, 74) = 2.28 F(1, 8) = 0.23
0.577 0.135 0.645
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M AN U
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464
Whole afternoon snack1 92.2 ± 2.2 (n = 43) 90.4 ± 2.8 (n = 43) F(1, 84) = 0.29 0.593 F(1, 84) = 0.25 0.615 1 465 Data for the juice intake, the tortilla sandwich intake, the cookie intake and the whole afternoon snack are shown independent of the type of
EP
tortilla sandwich, the type of cookie and the type of juice chosen.
AC C
466
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Liking of the food items
468
In table 5, the mean liking for each food item in each condition is shown. Regardless of the
469
children’s selections for each food group (i.e. tortilla sandwich, juice and cookie) there were no
470
differences in liking between the two conditions with ANCOVA models adjusted for age
471
(P Tortilla
472
afternoon snack liking
473
The only food item that presented a borderline significant difference on liking between the two
474
conditions was the apple/beetroot juice (F(1, 65) = 4.12, P = 0.048) (tasted and evaluated by 32
475
children in the PURCHASE condition and by 35 in the CONTROL group). The liking of this
476
food item was higher in the PURCHASE group compared to the CONTROL group. This
477
difference was still significant using ANCOVA model without any covariates (F(1, 65) = 4.26,
478
P = 0.043). Regarding the other food items’ liking one by one, there were no differences
479
between groups.
= 0.453; P
Juice liking
= 0.288; P = 0.493; P
= 0.453 and P
Whole
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= 0.176) or without any covariates.
Cookie liking
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sandwich liking
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25 Table 5: Mean liking in the PURCHASE condition and in the CONTROL condition.
Juice1 Orange Apple/Beetroot Tortilla sandwich1 Potato Zucchini
4.49 ± 0.14 (n = 43) 4.71 ± 0.10 (n = 42) 2.33 ± 0.30 (n = 24)
4.67 ± 0.08 (n = 43) 4.67 ± 0.09 (n = 43) 1.86 ± 0.26 (n = 21)
F(1, 84) = 1.26 F (1, 83) = 0.02 F (1, 43) = 2.01
0.265 0.881 0.163
F(1, 84) = 1.20 F (1, 83) = 0.09 F (1, 43) = 2.01
0.276 0.768 0.163
Cookie1 Chocolate Spinach
4.77 ± 0.08 (n = 43) 4.93 ± 0.04 (n = 42) 3.79 ± 0.22 (n = 38)
4.86 ± 0.10 (n = 43) 4.86 ± 0.10 (n = 43) 3.60 ± 0.28 (n = 32)
F(1, 84) = 0.57 F (1, 83) = 0.34 F (1, 68) = 0.34
0.453 0.561 0.561
F(1, 84) = 0.54 F (1, 83) = 041 F (1, 68) = 0.31
0.464 0.523 0.577
P
F
P
F(1, 84) = 1.14 F(1, 81) = 0.0001 F(1, 65) = 4.12
0.288 0.994 0.048*
F(1, 84) = 1.02 F(1, 81) = 0.06 F(1, 65) = 4.26
0.316 0.813 0.043*
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F
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ANCOVA models adjusted for age2
ANCOVA models without any covariates
Liking (score between 1 and 5) (mean ± SEM) PURCHASE CONTROL group group 4.16 ± 0.14 (n = 43) 4.37 ± 0.15 (n = 43) 4.32 ± 0.15 (n = 41) 4.26 ± 0.17 (n = 42) 3.72 ± 0.20 (n = 32) 3.26 ± 0.24 (n = 35)
TE D
480
482
of tortilla sandwich, the type of cookie and the type of juice chosen.
483
2
484
liking, initial zucchini liking and initial spinach liking, respectively.
485
* P < 0.05.
EP
481
Whole afternoon snack1 4.47 ± 0.09 (n = 43) 4.63 ± 0.08 (n = 43) F(1, 84) = 1.86 0.176 F(1, 84) = 1.72 0.193 1 Data for the juice liking, the tortilla sandwich liking, the cookie intake and the whole afternoon snack liking are given independent of the type
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The models for apple/beetroot juice liking, zucchini tortilla sandwich liking and spinach cookie liking were also adjusted for initial beetroot
26
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Concerning the mean liking of the familiar items (orange juice, potato tortilla sandwich and
488
chocolate cookie), no difference was found between the PURCHASE condition (4.66 ± 0.07)
489
and the CONTROL one (4.60 ± 0.09), with age as a covariate (F(1, 84) = 0.07, P = 0.786) or
490
without any covariates (F(1, 84) = 0.26, P = 0.609). As well as that, the mean liking of the
491
unfamiliar food items (apple/beetroot juice, zucchini tortilla sandwich and spinach cookie) was
492
not different between the PURCHASE condition (3.43 ± 0.15) and the CONTROL condition
493
(3.14 ± 0.20), with age as a covariate (F(1, 78) = 2.60, P = 0.110) or without any covariates
494
(F(1, 78) = 1.65, P = 0.203).
495
DISCUSSION
496
The present study shows that a single session of food purchasing with children has effects on
497
subsequent food choices. Children who actively participated in the food purchasing activity
498
spontaneously chose more unfamiliar foods containing vegetables compared with a control
499
group. Involving children in food shopping can thus help in directing children’s choices
500
towards novel foods containing vegetables. The present study is the first to demonstrate, in an
501
experimental setting, a beneficial effect of involving children in food shopping on their
502
spontaneous food choices.
503
This result highlights the interest of involving children in the different steps of meal
504
preparation, as a strategy for changing their food choices and reducing food neophobia. The
505
importance of children’s involvement is commonly recognized by parents. In a study by Casey
506
& Rozin (1989), 89.5% of parents rated “involving the child in the preparation and serving” as
507
an effective method for changing children food preferences. Russell et al. (2015) demonstrated
508
that parents from a less neophobic group of children were used to inviting their children to help
509
them in preparing meals, while parents from a neophobic group of children rarely reported
510
these types of behaviours.
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Most of the studies assessing the links between meal preparation involvement and children diet
512
quality focused only on cooking (Chu et al., 2014; van der Horst et al., 2014). In one
513
observation study, Nozue et al. (2016) considered shopping (jointly with cooking) as one of the
514
food-related activities positively associated with more favourable food intake in children.
515
After having demonstrated experimentally in a previous study (Allirot et al., 2016) the interest
516
of cooking involvement, the present one shows that food shopping involvement alone can also
517
promote healthy food choices in children. As exactly the same design was used in both studies
518
we can compare the effects of involvement in cooking with involvement in food purchasing ..
519
Similar results were found in both studies regarding spontaneous food choices towards
520
unfamiliar foods. The overall number of unfamiliar food items tasted by the children was
521
slightly higher in the cooking condition compared to the purchasing one but this difference did
522
not reach significance. The comparison of the results of the two studies suggests that involving
523
children in cooking vs. food purchasing activities has similar beneficial effects on children
524
food choices and willingness to taste novel foods containing vegetables. Future studies should
525
examine if those effects are cumulative.
526
As already suggested for cooking involvement, being involved in food shopping might increase
527
the willingness of children to choose unfamiliar foods and/or foods containing vegetables
528
because of the “IKEA effect” (Allirot et al., 2016; Dohle, Rall, & Siegrist, 2014). This
529
phenomenon also referred to as the “I designed it myself” might be best explained as effort
530
justification (Norton, Mochon, & Ariely, 2012). Accordingly, people like self-created objects
531
more than objects created by someone else because they have put more effort in to these
532
objects (Dohle et al., 2014). In the case of preparing food, labour increases liking, even if the
533
labour required to prepare these foods is only modest (Norton et al., 2012). In the present
534
study, we confirm (1) that this effect can influence food choices and not only modify liking and
535
(2) that it works not only with cooking involvement but also with shopping involvement,
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another step of the food preparation process. This effect could be mediated by the fact that food
537
preparation involvement stimulates positive feelings such as the sense of ownership and pride
538
(Heim, Stang, & Ireland, 2009; van der Horst et al., 2014). Creating positive experience with
539
novel foods has been shown to be an effective strategy for reducing food neophobia in children
540
(Pliner & Salvy, 2006). The beneficial effects of shopping on food choices, shown in the
541
present study, might be explained by the enjoyable and positive time spent by the children
542
during the shopping experience.
543
The food shopping effect on the willingness to choose unfamiliar foods might also be
544
explained by the increase in the familiarity of the food items during the purchasing workshop
545
compared to the control one. The role of familiarity in dietary development in children has
546
been demonstrated previously (Aldridge, Dovey, & Halford, 2009). Particularly, increasing
547
familiarity by exposing children to novel foods is a well-known strategy for reducing food
548
neophobia in children (Pliner & Salvy, 2006). By shopping, the children can increase their
549
visual familiarity as well as their contextual and categorical familiarity with the novel food
550
items (Aldridge et al., 2009).
551
The present study demonstrated that food shopping activities can increase children’s liking of
552
foods. Indeed, we showed higher liking in the PURCHASE group compared to the CONTROL
553
one, for one of the three unfamiliar foods: apple/beetroot juice. This finding is in line with
554
results found with cooking activities (Allirot et al., 2016). However, the effect on liking is
555
lower for shopping involvement compared to cooking involvement, for which liking increased
556
for two of the three unfamiliar foods and one of the three familiar foods. As for cooking
557
activities, we hypothesize that the pride of having participated in one step of the preparation
558
(Heim et al., 2009) and the positive experience of shopping together could explain such results,
559
as the context or atmosphere in which the food exposure takes place is an important factor in
560
the development of food likes and dislikes (Aldridge et al., 2009).
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536
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In the present study, we did not demonstrate any effect of the shopping activity on appetite and
562
on the percentage of intake of the whole afternoon snack and of each of the food item. In our
563
previous study (Allirot et al., 2016), the children who cooked had a higher spinach cookie
564
intake than the others, for those who chose the spinach cookie for their afternoon snack. While
565
cooking and shopping involvement had quite similar results on spontaneous food choices, we
566
showed a greater effect of cooking on intake and liking, compared to shopping. This might be
567
explained by the greater direct contact children have with foods in the cooking activities. In the
568
shopping workshop, children had physical contacts with the real food items only at the end of
569
the activity.
570
One limitation of our study is that it involves an online food purchase rather than in-shop due
571
to the experimental setting. This could have led to a decrease in the different observed effects,
572
due to the low interaction with foods in an online context. We hypothesize that the effects on
573
food choices and liking would have been increased in a shop context. Future studies could
574
address this specific question. Moreover, it might be less likely that parents involve their
575
children when they are shopping online than when they are physically attending a supermarket.
576
Thus, even if positive results were found for exposing children to online shopping for
577
vegetables, parents should be encouraged to purchase foods with their children in shop
578
contexts, in order to increase children’s exposure to a wide variety of food items. However, as
579
online grocery shopping is rapidly growing and is predicted to increase in the future (Benn,
580
Webb, Chang, & Reidy, 2015), it is relevant to use this tool also in research. Some limitations
581
to our study may have occurred due to the fact that, for logistical reasons, randomisation was
582
done by group and not by individual. However, we calculated the design effect for the initial
583
Food Neophobia Score (Food Neophobia Score was correlated to the willingness to taste
584
unfamiliar foods (data not shown)) and we found that the study design did not lead to an
585
increase of variance on the initial Food Neophobia Score comparing to a design of same
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sample size with strictly independent observations. Socio-economic aspects have not been
587
addressed in the present study. The children were recruited in three schools with very similar
588
socioeconomic profiles (middle class), and there were no difference between the two groups
589
regarding the school of provenance of the children (data not shown). The study design does not
590
enable us to assess the impact of socio-economic status on the results. Moreover, the present
591
study should be considered as a proof of concept, as the research methods and the data do not
592
allow for extrapolation to a wider population.
593
The fact that the experimental sessions have occurred in a university in gastronomic science is
594
another limitation of the present study. A previous study (Allirot et al., 2013) compared
595
appetite scores in similar situations but diferent settings (culinary art school vs. hospital),
596
demonstrating that, even if hunger scores and desire to eat savoury foods were higher in the
597
culinary art school, the trends were exactly the same in both places. In any case, effort should
598
be focused on further studies to confirm the present results in more familiar settings (at home
599
or in a scholar environment). Because of the particular context of the study (university in
600
gastronomic science), it is relevant to propose a control activity also related to food, as it would
601
not be understood by children and/or parents to come to the BCC for a non-food related
602
activity. In other contexts, another type of control activity could have been chosen, such as
603
online shopping with non-food items. However, even if it could be questionable to expose
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children in the control group to the food and nutrition thematic, it makes sense to compare the
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effects on food choices of a novel approach for changing behaviours (food shopping) with the
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one more traditionally used (nutrition education). As familiarity has been reported as the
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percentage of children answering Yes to the closed question “Have you ever tasted this food
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before today?”, we cannot exclude a bias in this measure due to social desirability or simply
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because the child thought that this was the response they should give. In order to limit this
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possible bias in the measure of food familiarity, some other measures could have been used,
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such as the current frequency of consumption (Hardman, McCrickerd, & Brunstrom, 2011) or
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a questionnaire sent to parents with 5-point scales (Mustonen, Oerlemans, & Tuorila, 2012).
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However, considering the process we followed for selecting familiar and unfamiliar food items,
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involving chefs, parents and children of the Basque Country (Allirot et al., 2016), we can
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consider that the 3 a-priori familiar food items are culturally very familiar in the Basque
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Country and inversely for the 3 a-priori unfamiliar food items. Another limitation of the
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present study is the fact that only short term effects were considered. Long-term effects of
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involving children in food shopping on their food choices should be assessed in further studies.
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However, the first time trial of an unfamiliar healthy food product is very important and is
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considered as a crucial step in the development of liking and acceptance of healthy alternative
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products (Birch, 1999). As a result, developing strategies for stimulating a first exposure to
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healthy foods is of high importance specifically for high neophobic people (Schickenberg, van
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Assema, Brug, & de Vries, 2011). Even if it was not the case for the present study, we
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recommend designing future meal preparation studies in line with theoretical underpinnings, as
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highlighted by Hollywood et al. (2017) in a recent review. This could help in better
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understanding the underlying mechanisms explaining the effects of meal preparation
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interventions.
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CONCLUSION
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The present study demonstrates experimentally that involving children in food purchasing
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activities can help in directing their spontaneous food choices towards novel foods and
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enhancing their diet quality by promoting consumption of foods containing vegetables. Those
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results support the idea that shopping with children needs to be promoted and that shopping
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skills are essential food skills that should be included in healthy eating programs. Though
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further studies are necessary in other contexts, the present results do provide encouragement
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for parents that purchasing foods with their children can promote the selection and the
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appreciation of healthy foods.
637 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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We would like to acknowledge the support from the Basque Government. We thank all the
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children who participated in the study as well as their parents, principals and members of the
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three primary schools who facilitated the recruitment. We thank the Chief Iñigo Cojo for his
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technical help in the elaboration of the recipes. We are also grateful for the support from the
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members of Basque Culinary Center who facilitated the different steps of the study.
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CONFLICT OF INTEREST
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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