• A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is recommended for achieving or maintaining a healthy body weight.
• Fruits and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals and fiber without contributing an abundance of calories, making them nutrient dense. These nutrient dense foods are important in young children’s diets due to their high vitamin and mineral content, which supports healthy physical growth and development.
• Children’s preference for vegetables is among the strongest predictors of vegetable consumption (Birch, 1979; Harvey-Berino, et al. 1997; Morris & Zidenberg-Cherr, 2002).
• Children’s diets are typically high in saturated fat, sodium and added sugar and low in fruits, vegetables and whole grains (Enns, 2002).
• The USDA recommends that preschool-age children consume 3-5 (½ cup) servings of vegetables and 2-4 (½ cup) servings of fruit daily (www.mypyramid.gov).
• On average, preschool children consume approximately 2 servings of vegetables and 1.5 servings of fruit each day. However, only 1% of preschool children meet all of the dietary recommendations established by the Food Guide Pyramid (Muñoz et al. 1997).


• When children are provided with repeated opportunities to taste a new food we assist children in altering their reaction from rejection to acceptance (Birch & Marlin, 1982; Sullivan & Birch, 1994);
• It takes 5 to 10 exposures to a new food for preschool children to become comfortable and familiar with its taste and texture (Sullivan & Birch, 1994).

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