Can cooking skills help kids eat healthier?
Can cooking skills help kids eat healthier?
This study examines whether a child having strong cooking skills would be associated with better diet quality.
What We Did
Researchers explored whether children with stronger cooking skills had better diet quality. They studied 81 children from the Guelph Family Health Study. Children reported their cooking skills, and parents reported what their children ate.
What We Found
What We Can Learn From This
Children with stronger cooking skills tended to eat more vegetables. Researchers found a positive relationship between cooking skills and vegetable intake.
However, cooking skills were NOT associated with overall diet quality. In other words, children with stronger cooking skills didn’t necessarily have healthier diets overall.
Learning to cook may help children become more comfortable preparing and eating vegetables. Cooking can be one way to support positive food experiences.
It is important to note that cooking skills are not the only factor that can potentially affect child diet quality. Food availability, parental control, time constraints, socioeconomic status, and school food environment may also play a role.
Read the full article published Here.
Related Family Resources: