Smiley Faces Help Kids Pick Healthier Food Choices

Would you be more likely to eat something healthy if it had a smiley face on it? Some kids would, according to recent research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in San Diego, Calif.

Researchers found that putting smiley faces on healthy foods and meals can oftentimes encourage children to eat something more nutritious even if it might not be their all-time favorite food.

For the study, researchers attempted to improve the quality of school lunches by designing a 2 phase intervention including students from kindergarten to the sixth grade.

During the first phase, healthy food was labeled as fat free milk, vegetables, fruits and whole grains with smiley faces. Later, participants were introduced to a meal with all these foods and an additional small treat, including something like a beach ball, sticker or temporary tattoo.

Findings revealed that the purchase of milk increased from 7.4 percent to 48 percent, with sales of fruits and vegetables increased to 20 percent and 62 percent, respectively. Furthermore, the sales for chocolate milk also dropped probably due to other students picking healthier choices.

"It looks like we found a very promising, low-cost and effective way of improving the nutrition of elementary school children. This type of program may be a useful component in schools trying to improve the nutrition and health of their students," the study authors concluded.

Researchers hope that these study results encourage more schools to take action with simple interventions that provide more nutritious meals to children and that can also help deal with the childhood obesity epidemic.