Research shows kids prefer sliced apples

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Every parent knows the struggle is real. Getting children to eat fruits and vegetables is tough.

Now new research reveals the secret that has kids eating one of nature’s healthiest foods and it’s coming to school cafeterias in your community.

Apples have always been a part of the National School Lunch Program. But for the majority of the time, they were served whole.

People started noticing, kids weren't eating them at all, and instead they were going in the trash.

So a group of researchers at Cornell University decided to try something different. They ran a study but served sliced apples in schools. They found that kids were catching on and eating up. Again, the only difference was the apples were being served sliced. It was a tactic already being used by the world’s biggest fast-food franchise.

A pilot study at eight schools found that fruit consumption jumped by more than 60% when apples were served sliced.

This is part of an even bigger trend nationwide. The U.S. Department of Agriculture finds Americans ate just over 500 million fresh sliced apples in 2014. That’s more than three times as many as they did 10 years before.

So when the question of "why" came up, the researchers thought it had something to do with convenience.
Plus it's easier for kids to eat something sliced if they have braces or are still losing baby teeth.

In talking more about this trend, we can't ignore McDonald's as a factor. In 2004, they started adding sliced apples to their menus. Years later, they became an automatic of meals. Fast forward to last year, McDonald's sold almost 250 million packages of sliced apples.

But with any pro, there is always a con.

Some scientists are worried that with packaged sliced apples, there would be more plastic thrown away and that would be harmful to the environment.
 


About the Author:

Ashley Harding joined the Channel 4 news team in March 2013. She reports for and anchors The Morning Show.