(P24-085-23) Veggie Gummy Bears: A Gamified Approach for Helping Children Learn To Like Vegetables

Objectives: Vegetables are a key component of a nutritious diet, yet most children in the United States do not meet recommended intakes (CDC, 2020). Research demonstrates that children’s consumption of new or disliked foods can improve with repeated tastes of a food over time, but success of this method relies on initial willingness to taste target foods. Our study objective was to explore whether a fun, vegetable gummy bear game could improve children’s willingness to taste (WTT) vegetables over time.

Methods: A community-based intervention was conducted with children (n=36, M_age = 8.1 years ± 1.9 years, 50% Non-Hispanic White) enrolled in a summer program at a multicultural community center. The intervention included 4 assessments; assessments 1-3 were separated by 1.5 weeks and the follow-up occurred 1 month after the previous visit. During assessments, children were offered samples of chopped vegetables (carrot, kale, broccoli, orange bell pepper) one-by-one followed by gummy bears of the same flavors. Research staff observed and recorded children’s WTT each vegetable sample (yes/no). Between assessment visits, children participated in game visits, where they matched gummy bear flavors to their vegetable counterparts, either in chopped or picture form.

Results: Children’s WTT was very high at assessment 1 and remained fairly high throughout the study. Specifically, at assessment 1 (n=19) WTT chopped vegetables ranged from 84% (kale) to 95% (carrot). At assessment 2 (n=15), WTT ranged from 73% (broccoli) to 93% (carrot, kale). By assessment 3 (n=21), WTT was lower with the fewest children tasting broccoli (57%) and the most children tasting carrot (81%). Between assessment 3 and follow-up, WTT for broccoli (57% to 77%) and carrot (81% to 88%) increased, whereas WTT for kale (71%) and orange bell pepper (71%) remained the same.

Conclusions: Children were highly willing to taste ( >57% across the study period) a variety of chopped vegetables within the context of our gummy bear game. Although WTT chopped vegetable samples was especially high at the beginning of the study, future work is needed to identify strategies for sustaining vegetable consumption for longer periods, such as adding more vegetable flavors or increasing game difficulty.

Funding Sources: Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences