Preschool Children’s Perceptions of Healthy and Unhealthy Foods

Abstract

Perceptions of children about healthy foods in early childhood years have the potential to influence their food choices and preferences in their future lives. In this aspect, the purpose of the study was twofold: (i) to adapt and implement The Healthy Food Knowledge Activity in order to assess preschool children’s perceptions of healthy foods and (ii) to explore gender differences in their perceptions. A total of 104 five-year-old children participated in the study from three different public preschools in the capital city of Türkiye. The results revealed that these children could correctly identify the healthy foods regardless of gender whereas they had difficulty in identifying some foods (e.g., fried chicken, ice-cream, or cookies) as unhealthy. Therefore, this study gives clues about the types of foods that should be emphasized in terms of health during nutrition education for children.

Keywords

• Early childhood education
• nutrition
• nutrient
• healthy
• unhealthy

Ethical Statement

Çalışma için etik izin Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Araştırmaları Etik Kurulu'ndan alınmıştır. (Karar sayısı: 2023-87)

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