Sissel H. Helland is an associate professor at the University of Agder (UiA), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, Department of Sport, Public Health and Nutrition. She has completed the faculty's doctoral program. The doctoral project was funded by the Norwegian Women's Health Association's research fund for children and young people. The project has also received operating support from UiA and the Department of Teacher Education at UiA.
Evaluation Committee:
- Opponent: PhD, universitetslektor Hanna Sepp, Kristianstad University, Sweden
- Opponent: Professor Hege Wergedahl, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
- Chair of the assessment committee Associate professor Per Christer Thomas Westergren, UiA
Supervisors:
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Main supervisor: Professor Nina C. Øverby, Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences, University of Agder
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Co-supervisor: Professor Elling Bere, Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences, University of Agder
Summary
Food neophobia – aversion to eating unfamiliar foods – is a normal part of two-year-olds’ development. Historically, food neophobia has helped children stay away from toxic foods, which they could find in nature, but in today’s food environment, food neophobia mainly contributes to a less healthy diet and affects children’s food variety. Food neophobia can also contribute to reducing children’s enjoyment of food and well-being. Since there is a tendency for eating habits from the age of two to three to last into adulthood, there is a need for early interventions that can reduce levels of food neophobia and help children learn to like a wide variety of healthy foods. Kindergarten is an arena where most two-year-olds in Norway eat several times a day, and educational food and mealtime measures can have an impact on a large proportion of two-year-olds’ development and health.
The "Children's food courage" project consists of two sub-studies, a cross-sectional study and a randomized controlled trial that includes development of the intervention, a process evaluation with kindergarten staff as informants and effect results. In the first study, the relationship between food neophobia and intake of different foods among Norwegian two-year-olds was investigated. In the second study, a multi-component intervention was developed, implemented and evaluated that included i) Gathering times with a focus on the senses and food (the Sapere method), ii) new, hot lunch dishes, ii) meal advice for staff and iv) meal advice for parents, where one of the purposes was to reduce food neophobia.
The study Barns matmot (Children's Food Courage) showed that higher levels of food neophobia are associated with less frequent consumption of fish, vegetables, fruit and berries among two-year-olds. Children ate vegetables less frequently when their parents had higher levels of food neophobia. The Barns matmot (Children's Food Courage) intervention was developed with the aim of reducing food neophobia through measures in kindergartens. The measures did not have the expected effect on two-year-olds' food neophobia or willingness to taste selected foods. The kindergarten staff expressed that the intervention was inspiring, but demanding. This was despite the fact that the kindergartens were provided with both materials, equipment and training. Kindergarten staff considered the Sapere method to be a useful pedagogical tool that helped to give children food courage. It was reported that both the two-year-olds and the kindergarten staff became more aware of their own sensory experiences and developed their vocabulary related to the senses and food. The introduction of new research-based guidelines led to unfamiliar situations during lunch, such as eating together and letting the children help themselves. Some kindergarten staff experienced neophobic reactions from both children and staff when new lunch dishes were served. The biggest challenge for the intervention kindergartens seemed to be time and expertise related to cooking. For such interventions to be both relevant to public health and for two-year-olds to develop motivation to eat a wide range of healthy foods, these results show that there is a need for attention to kindergarten staff's food knowledge, cooking and food and mealtime practices. Sufficient time and resources for cooking are also important.