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PROVO — Researchers at Brigham Young University have recently found a way to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables: pay them to do it.
According to the study, the United States spends over $4.5 million each day on fresh fruits and vegetables to serve in public schools. Estimates show at least $3.5 million of that is tossed in the garbage by students.
The effort to get school-age children to choose healthy food over junk has been a long-fought battle. In an informal survey conducted in this reporter's home, 5 out of 5 young children chose a Twinkie over an apple 100 percent of the time.
Researchers from BYU and Cornell University worked together to find ways to encourage children to make the choice to eat healthy. Their hypothesis: offer a financial incentive for grabbing a banana over a bag of chips.
BYU economics professor Joe Price oversaw much of the study. He said parents often avoid systems involving bribery because they worry it sends the wrong message to children.
“Parents are often misguided about incentives,” Price said. “We feel a sense of dirtiness about a bribe. But rewards can be really powerful if the activity creates a new skill or changes preferences.”
Along with Cornell professor David Just, Price worked with 15 different schools to track students’ consumption of fruits and vegetables for a week. Some students were offered a nickle or a dime for choosing to eat an apple or orange; others were given raffle tickets for larger prizes.
Offering these small rewards upped the percentage of produce consumption by 80 percent and decreased the amount of produce wasted by 33 percent.
After the experiment ended, Price said produce intake decreased, but didn’t have a sudden drop-off. He plans on conducting similar studies in other schools, stretching them out for four or five weeks.
“I don’t think we should give incentives such a bad rap,” Price said. “They should be considered part of a set of tools we can use.”
The study is titled “Using incentives to Encourage Healthy Eating in Children” and is printed in The Journal of Human Resources (available to subscribers only). Price offers an earlier version of the study on his website (PDF).
