Vegetables at Any Cost: How the Media Markets Children’s Unhealthy Food Preferences in North America

摘要

This editorial explores the recent endorsement by the North American media of blending, or ‘disguising,’ vegetables in other foods as a strategy for encouraging children to eat vegetables. The author argues that the myriad of media such as books, television programs, and internet sites that promote diverse, and often inconsistent, advice on children’s nutrition contributes to the challenge, rather than aids, parents and teachers in successfully encouraging children to develop healthy food preferences. In this editorial, a sample of media promoting the disguising vegetable strategy are presented and compared to research recommendations for children’s healthy food preference development. To promote this strategy, the media were found to draw upon a variety of authority sources and stress the necessity of young children eating adequate servings of vegetables. Such advice was found to contrast with research recommendations for developing children’s long-term healthy nutritional behaviours. In light of such findings, the editorial concludes with recommending areas needed for future research and practice.