Gastronomy’s Influence on Fruits and Vegetables Acceptance by Overweight Children

The present study aimed to assess the acceptance of fruits and vegetables, prepared with gastronomy techniques, by overweight children (n=25) from a public school in Rio Paranaíba city, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The consumption of orange, papaya, watermelon, zucchini, chayote and beet was observed, before and after the use of gastronomic techniques. To compare the grades, the Wilcoxon test was applied. To associate the gender, age, consumption and food acceptance was applied the Chi-square test at 5%. The results showed that consumption frequency, for both fruits and vegetables, was considered low. The gastronomic techniques did not improve the acceptance (p>0.05). However, the grades assigned to vegetables after gastronomy techniques application increased, highlighting its role over health eating promotion. Based on the results, was possible to affirm that the gastronomy techniques have provided higher scores for vegetables evaluated. However, complementary studies are necessary to evaluate if those techniques could be used as education strategies in order to enhance fruits and vegetables consumption by children