Across the United States, diet quality regarding nutrient-dense foods, including lean protein, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy, are lower than where we want them to be. The Healthy Eating Index provides insight into how well different age groups are at meeting suggested dietary intakes for food groups as set by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The quality of dietary patterns compared to recommendations is ranked using a scoring system that ranges from 0 to 100. According to the HEI, the most recent scores for ages 2-18 are 54 as the Mean Score with some of the lower categories being 44 for “Total Vegetables” and 74 for “Total Fruits”. However, some recent interventions piloted may provide some insight into raising these scores starting with younger children. 

Farm to Early Care Education (ECE) programs allow children to learn about the source of food. Generating this early exposure to education and nutritious foods can have lasting impacts on the health of these children. The activities often included in Farm to ECE programs, like taste-testing fresh foods, engaging all the senses with food, and hands-on activities like gardening or visiting local farms, encourage exposure in more ways than one that promotes willingness to try new fruits and vegetables. (Izumi, et. al) According to the Centers for Disease Control, Farm to ECE programs also increase access to nutrient-dense foods that support growth and development of children. The Community Action Council (CAC) in Lexington, Kentucky was passionate about starting a Farm to ECE program around the state of Kentucky with Headstart programs that fell under their umbrella of connections. The preliminary work for this task included facilitating connections between local farmers and CAC to procure the produce. Once the connections were made, CAC was ready to extend their reach and pilot taste-testing activities with the available produce. To do so, the Maternal and Child Nutrition Specialist and Food and Nutrition Associate suggested collaboration with Cooperative Extension Agents. 

To spearhead the initiative, the CAC was connected with the appropriate FCS Agents in selected counties. Existing curriculum, ideas, and suggestions for programming were shared with Agents. This included activities depending on the produce available to them on the days of their taste tests and suggested language for encouraging exposure to these foods. A large focus was put on finding curriculum that encouraged the exposure to foods in different ways to promote a child’s comfort with the foods and to ease them into the experience of tasting the foods rather than requiring a taste immediately. 

FCS Agents completed evaluations for each session with students. Post evaluations showed that most children involved in the taste testing experience were willing to try the foods. Of the 207 children that participated in taste tests across the state, 89% (n=185) were willing to try foods including radishes, kale, and strawberries. When the participants were asked if they were willing to eat the food at school again or ask for it at home, 127 reported ‘yes’. One Agent states “I was really surprised how many would actually give kale and radishes a good ‘Hello Bite’” which incorporated language from the curriculum encouraging children to welcome the food when they were ready. 

We received positive feedback from the Agents involved based on their experience with developing these new connections with the Headstart community in their regions. We also heard positive observations from the Agents through their experience directly with the children. Through cultivating these relationships and encouraging a continuation of these activities in Headstart programs and beyond, perhaps expanding to other early childcare throughout the state, we can expand the palates of children at a young age and increase the accessibility to these foods for their families. Over time, this can increase the HEI scores for all age groups and improve health and quality of life for Kentuckians. 

References

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. 2023. Average Healthy Eating Index-2020 Scores for the U.S. Population - Total Ages 2 and Older and by Age Groups, WWEIA, NHANES 2017-2018

Izumi, B. T., Eckhardt, C. L., Hallman, J. A., Herro, K., & Barberis, D. A. (2015). Harvest for Healthy Kids Pilot Study: Associations between Exposure to a Farm-to-Preschool Intervention and Willingness to Try and Liking of Target Fruits and Vegetables among Low-Income Children in Head Start. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 115(12), 2003–2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2015.07.020

CDC. (2024, March 19). Advancing Farm to ECE. Early Care and Education. https://www.cdc.gov/early-care-education/php/farm-to-ece/index.html#:~:text=and%20agricultural%20education.-