Puree helps kids make smooth transition to vegetables

Adding tiny amounts of vegetable puree to milk and then rice at the time of weaning makes children more likely to eat vegetables, new University of Leeds research shows. Infants who consumed either milk (breast milk or formula) followed by rice mixed with vegetable puree ate nearly half as many vegetables again as infants who ate just milk followed by baby rice. Professor Marion Hetherington, of the School of Psychology at the University of Leeds, led the study. She said: “We took inspiration from French mothers, as previous studies in this area have shown that they often add vegetable cooking water to their infants’ milk to help introduce them to eating vegetables at weaning. For years, French mums have shown that getting their children to eat vegetables early is child’s play. In the project, 36 mothers with babies aged from six months were split into two groups. One group was given plain milk for 12 consecutive days followed by plain rice for 12 consecutive days.