Video games and nutrition are often placed at opposite ends of the spectrum, with most parents envisioning the typical gamer sprawled on a couch with a controller in one hand and a bag of potato chips in the other.
But a study conducted by researchers at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital turned the tables on that stereotype. The study, which was published May 9, 2016 in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, got elementary school students to increase fruit and vegetable consumption while playing a video game.
The 10-episode video game, called Squire’s Quest II: Saving the Kingdom of Fivealot, was designed to entertain and promote behavioral change, according to a Baylor news release.
The 400 fourth and fifth grade participants played all episodes of the game over six months and were told they had to meet their game character’s fruit and vegetable requirements.
The children’s parents tracked their fruit and vegetable intake progress via weekly newsletters, which included suggestions for helping them meet targets. There also were three followups during the period.
After six months, 79% of the participants had met their dietary goals.
“The results suggest that including implementation intentions in the goal-setting process of interventions may help children achieve their goals. Future research should continue to investigate the use of implementation intentions within interventions to improve health behaviors,” said Dr. Karen Cullen, a Baylor pediatrics professor and the study’s lead author.
The researchers said the game content – meant to both educate and entertain – was crucial to changing behavior, while getting parents involved also had an impact.
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Dietary shortfalls
Americans consume well below the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables daily. Only 8% of adults eat the suggested amount of fruit, while just 2% of children eat the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables.
Both the Mayo Clinic and the American Heart Association (AHA) have issued dietary recommendations for children.
The AHA calls for children between two and three years old to have a cup of fruit and a cup of vegetables daily. The amount of fruit for girls ages four to 18 increases to 1.5 cups a day; it also increases to 1.5 cups for boys ages four to 13, then goes up to two cups.
Girls eight and younger are recommended to consume one cup of vegetables daily, while girls ages nine to 13 are recommended to eat two cups. Boys between four to eight years old are recommended to consume 1.5 cups, while those nine to 13 should eat 2.5 cups daily and those 14 or older should eat three cups.
The Mayo Clinic makes similar recommendations – some of which call for even greater levels of consumption.
It calls for children to eat a variety of fresh, canned, frozen or dried fruit, but avoid fruit juice. As for vegetables, fresh, canned, frozen and dried all are fine. A variety of vegetables – including dark green, red and orange – is suggested.
“Few children eat enough servings of fruit and vegetables each day,” Cullen said. “These foods are part of a healthy diet, and may reduce the risk of some chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. So interventions to help children choose and eat more fruit and vegetables are important.”
