孩子更喜歡用蔬菜起名

In a new study, 186 four-year-olds were given regular carrots and, on other lunch days, they were given the same vegetables renamed X-ray Vision Carrots. On the latter days, they ate nearly twice as many.

The study suggests the influence of these names might persist.

Children continued to eat about 50 percent more carrots even on the days when they were no longer labeled as anything special.

The research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was presented at the annual meeting of the School Nutrition Association in Washington, DC.

"Cool names can make for cool foods," says lead author Brian Wansink of Cornell University. "Whether it be 'power peas' or 'dinosaur broccoli trees,' giving a food a fun name makes kids think it will be more fun to eat. And it seems to keep working - even the next day," Wansink said.

Similar results have been found with adults. A restaurant study showed that when the Seafood Filet was changed to Succulent Italian Seafood Filet, sales increased 28 percent and taste rating increased by 12 percent. "Same food, but different expectations, and a different experience," said Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think."

The veggie study was conducted in pre-schools, but the researchers believe the same naming tricks can work with children at home.

"I've been using this with my kids," said researcher Collin Payne, "Whatever sparks their imagination seems to spark their appetite."

在一項最新研究中，研究人員讓186名四歲的兒童吃“普通”胡蘿蔔，並在另外幾天午餐時給他們吃同樣的胡蘿蔔，但把名字改成了“X光透視眼胡蘿蔔”，結果發現，孩子們在這幾天所食用的胡蘿蔔量爲之前的近兩倍。

研究表明，這些“酷名”的影響可能會持續。

即便之後沒再給胡蘿蔔起什麼特別的名字，孩子所攝入的胡蘿蔔量仍然比以往多約50%。

這項研究由羅伯特•伍德•約翰森基金會資助，研究結果在華盛頓召開的“學校營養協會”的年度會議上公佈。

研究主要負責人、康奈爾大學的布萊恩•萬辛克說：“名字酷，東西似乎也就酷。所以無論是‘大力豌豆’還是“恐龍花椰菜”，給食物起一個有趣的名字能讓孩子們覺得這些東西吃起來會更有意思。而且這種影響會持續——即便到了第二天也如此。”

大人們也具有這種“情結”。一項餐館調查發現，將“海魚”改名爲“意大利多汁海魚”後，其銷量上升了28%，口味評級上升了12%。《食無止境：爲什麼我吃得比認爲的多》一書的作者萬辛克說：“其實是同樣的東西，但期望值和體驗都不同。”

這項有關蔬菜的研究在幼兒園開展，但研究人員認爲“酷名效應”同樣適用於不上幼兒園的孩子。

研究人員科林•佩恩說：“我就對我的孩子採取這種方法。能激發他們想象力的東西似乎也能激發他們的胃口。”