Big Way Of Life

Experts in the US have developed a blueprint for a new school canteen that, in theory, should get children eating healthier and thus combat obesity. Cornell ­University researchers Brian Wansink and David R Just, who did a series of experiments in US schools, believe that you can alter how children choose food in the canteen by employing supermarket-esque behavioural psychology.

The main recommendations of the study were thus:

• Move the broccoli: placing nutritious foods at the beginning of the lunch queue increased the amount purchased by 10-15%.
• Decreasing the size of bowls from 18oz to 14oz: this reduced the average cereal serving by 24%.
• Encourage the use of trays: this increased veg consumption. Students without trays ate 21% less salad but no less ice cream.
• Give healthy choices more descriptive names: using 'creamy corn' rather than just 'corn' increased sales by 27%.
• Offer a choice: Students given a choice between carrots and celery were much more likely to eat their veg than students forced to take only carrots.
• Hide the ice cream: Keeping it in a freezer with a closed opaque top significantly reduced sales.
• Ask if they want a salad: when workers asked 'Do you want a salad?', sales increased by a third.
• Make an express queue: creating a 'healthy express' checkout for students not buying desserts and chips doubled the sales of healthy sandwiches.
• Use fruit bowls: putting apples and pears in a fruit bowl rather than a stainless steel pan more than doubled sales.
• Move the salad bar: pulling it away from the wall and putting in front of the cash register nearly tripled sales.
• Pay cash for dessert: forbidding the use of lunch tickets for desserts led students to buy 71% fruit and 55% fewer desserts.

To see all this presented in a pretty graphic then head over to the Guardian website here.