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Kids Who Watch Popeye Cartoons Eat More Vegetables

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-yam-what-I-yam dept.

markmark57 writes "Popeye cartoons, tasting parties and junior cooking classes can help increase vegetable intake in kindergarten children, according to new research published in the journal Nutrition & Dietetics. Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok found the type and amount of vegetables children ate improved after they took part in a program using multimedia and role models to promote healthy food. Twenty six kindergarten children aged four to five participated in the eight-week study. The researchers recorded the kinds and amounts of fruit and vegetables eaten by the children before and after the program."

13 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Huh by sanctimonius+hypocrt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And yet kids who watch violent movies aren't more violent. Weird, eh?

  2. Except... by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Informative

    It was wrong.

    Watermelon has more iron in it than spinach, and I personally find it far more tasty.

    1. Re:Except... by digitig · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Spinach is great as an ingredient (spanakopita, eggs Florentine and so on). It's only vile when boiled on its own and dumped on the plate as a green gloop. As you say, the myth about high iron came about because of a slipped decimal point, but it's still one of the easiest green leafy veg to make palatable, as long as you take the trouble to make it palatable. Even just frying some crushed garlic and pine nut kernels and mixing them in makes a huge difference, although that's probably more an adult taste than a kids one.

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    2. Re:Except... by Nadaka · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Spinach is my preferred salad green, but I can not stand it cooked.

    3. Re:Except... by drewhk · · Score: 2, Informative

      You should never spoil good spinach by cooking. Just buy some tasty, fresh, raw baby-spinach and put it into your sandwich.

    4. Re:Except... by geekoid · · Score: 2, Informative

      False. There is no evidence of a decimal point error.

      http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Sutton_Spinach_Iron_and_Popeye_March_2010.pdf

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      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  3. Pipes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Do they also smoke more pipes?

  4. Other notable results... by HikingStick · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The children who watched the Popeye cartoons also started smoking pipes and settling disagreements with fistfights. The body image of underweight girls also improved, and they found themselves the preferred objects of affection at Valentine's Day observances and during class parties.

    --
    I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
  5. Why DOES he eat 'spinach' thru a pipe? by djdbass · · Score: 2, Funny

    I strong to the finishk, cause I smoked me spinachk...

  6. Re:Oh oh by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Due to exposure, I also think like the Cookie Monster: I ate TFA.
           

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    Table-ized A.I.
  7. Well blow them down! by MoeDumb · · Score: 2, Funny

    "They fights to the finach, cause they eats their spinach..." earning them detention for fighting, an "F" in Works and Plays Well With Others, and mandatory afterschool remedial English lessons. A-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk!!

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    Mod Me Up. You'll make a grown man cry.
  8. Oh spinach for sure but... by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 2, Funny

    what about yams? You know, "I yam what I yam and that's all I yam".

  9. Re:What I want to know is... by Nadaka · · Score: 2, Funny

    I would hope not. Anvils have an even higher iron content than spinach.