Bite-size fruit pleases kids:

It’s probably not a surprise for many – but kids prefer fruit when it’s sliced for them.

A study by Cornell University’s Centre for Behavioural Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (BEN Centre) in New York conducted a pilot study asking US primary schools to serve apples to students in pieces, rather than whole.

Sales of apples jumped 71% when the fruit was sold in sliced form.

The researchers repeated the study a second time, including three ‘control’ schools that did not slice apples for students, and measured the consumption of the fruit. Students where the fruit was sliced were 73% more likely to eat more than half the apple, compared with those where it wasn’t sliced.

“This study shows that making fruit easier to eat encourages children to select it and to eat more of it,” according to Professor Brian Wansink, lead author of the study and co-director of the BEN Centre.

“With an initial investment of just $200, fruit slicers constitute a means for school canteens not only to encourage fruit consumption among students but also to prevent food waste,” he said.

Professor Wansink suggested that children might dislike eating whole fruit because braces or missing teeth, or because large fruit is inconvenient. Or maybe they're so used to convience foods and bite-size snacks, and welcome bite-size fruit also.