Dietary Education Classes and an Educational Tool Promoting Vegetable Intake among Children

Abstract

We conducted dietary education classes for children and their parents to promote their vegetable intake. Participants were administered a questionnaire regarding their habitual vegetable intake and the effects of using “Vegetable sheet”, an educational tool we designed for use at home. The majority (81%) of parents rated their children’s previous (pre-class) overall food intake as “appropriate” and 11% as “low”, while the largest proportion, only 46%, considered their children’s vegetable intake as “appropriate”, followed by “low”, at 38%. When parents were asked about obstacles to and difficulties in getting their children to eat vegetables, the largest proportion (59%) reported “not eating or finishing vegetables they disliked”, followed by “parents’ lack of knowledge about vegetable dishes that the children would enjoy” (30%), “eating a very small amount of vegetables” (26%). The most common consumption frequencies for each vegetable were as follows: Japanese mustard spinach, broccoli, and pumpkin, rarely (46, 54, and 54%, respectively) : spinach and bell peppers, and carrots, 2-3 times/week (69, 50%, and 54%, respectively); cabbage, 4-5 times/week (54%); tomatoes, almost every day (54%). “Vegetable sheet” was a dietary education tool on which children placed stickers to represent their vegetable intake at home. Parents reported that this tool aided in “increasing the children’s vegetable intake” (75%), “encouraging the children to eat vegetables they disliked” (53%), and “increasing the frequency of serving vegetable dishes to the children” (62%). Furthermore, 75% expressed their willingness to continue to use the tool, indicating that these participants acknowledged its usefulness. Changes in vegetable intake during the long-term use of “Vegetable sheet” need to be examined in future studies using a larger sample.