--- title: You Can Teach Kids to Eat Vegetables, Says Science description: A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds finds that young children can, in fact, learn to like vegetables. canonical: https://time.com/2803479/vegetables-taught-science/ author: Bijan Stephen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-01T13:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:13.510Z og:title: You Can Teach Kids to Eat Vegetables, Says Science og:description: A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds finds that young children can, in fact, learn to like vegetables. og:url: https://time.com/2803479/vegetables-taught-science/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Can Teach Kids to Eat Vegetables, Says Science twitter:description: A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds finds that young children can, in fact, learn to like vegetables. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # You Can Teach Kids to Eat Vegetables, Says Science ## Video: Is Online Marketing Disguised as Games Making Kids Obese? [Watch (HLS stream): Is Online Marketing Disguised as Games Making Kids Obese?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LwfxbvV6.m3u8) (3:06)  _Published 2011-06-27. A statement by the the American Academy of Pediatrics says interactive marketing of junk food online may be contributing to child obesity. TIME's Alice Park shows a few examples of how companies are reaching kids online_ by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Jun 1, 2014 1:00 PM UTC by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Jun 1, 2014 1:00 PM UTC Parents, listen up! (Conversely: Picky preschoolers beware). A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds finds that young children _can_, in fact, learn to like vegetables. During the [experiment](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0097609), each of the 332 children (aged between 4 and 38 months old) was given between 5 and 10 “exposures to a novel vegetable”—i.e., fed one of three variants of artichoke puree: basic, sweetened or “added energy” (added vegetable oil). By the end of the experiment, one in five of the children cleared their plates, while two in five had learned to like artichokes. The researchers also found that sweetening vegetables didn’t have a significant effect on how much children ate as compared to their consumption of the basic puree. Dr. Marion Hetherington of the University of Leeds, the lead scientist on the study, [told the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27635861), “if you want to encourage your children to eat vegetables, make sure you start early and often.” You can find the study in full [here](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0097609)—should you need to whip out some scientific evidence to convince your toddler that vegetables are pretty cool. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2803479/vegetables-taught-science/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2803479/vegetables-taught-science/"},"headline":"You Can Teach Kids to Eat Vegetables, Says Science","datePublished":"2014-06-01T13:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:13.510Z","description":"Even artichokes have hearts","url":"https://time.com/2803479/vegetables-taught-science/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Vegetables","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bijan Stephen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2803479/vegetables-taught-science/","name":"You Can Teach Kids to Eat Vegetables, Says Science"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Is Online Marketing Disguised as Games Making Kids Obese?","description":"A statement by the the American Academy of Pediatrics says interactive marketing of junk food online may be contributing to child obesity. 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