Impact of nutrition messages on children's food choice: Pilot study

This pilot study tested the influence of nutrition message framing on snack choice among kindergarteners. Three classrooms were randomly assigned to watch one of the following 60 s videos: (a) a gain-framed nutrition message (i.e. the positive benefits of eating apples) (n = 14); (b) a loss-framed message (i.e. the negative consequences of not eating apples) (n = 18); or (c) a control scene (children playing a game) (n = 18). Following this, the children were offered a choice between animal crackers and an apple for their snack. Among the children who saw one of the nutrition message videos, 56% chose apples rather than animal crackers; in the control condition only 33% chose apples. This difference was statistically significant (X-2 = 7.56, p < 0.01). These results suggest that videos containing nutritional messages may have a positive influence on children's short-term food choices. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.