[Source: Medical News Today]

Given the rise in childhood obesity and known cultural shifts away from cooking, a review of cooking programs targeting elementary school children was conducted to understand program design and outcomes and to inform research gaps. This review assesses the evidence on childhood cooking programs and their association with changes in food-related preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of school-aged children.

Researchers systematically searched PubMed, Ovid-Medline, and CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) databases. They included primary research articles that involved cooking education programs for children and searched reference lists for eligible articles. Studies considered for review contained a hands-on cooking intervention; had participants aged 5 to 12 years; were published in a peer-reviewed journal on or after January 1, 2003; and were written in English.

Findings suggest that cooking programs may positively influence children’s food-related preferences, attitudes, and behaviors. Researchers found that despite various differences in delivery, each program had a significant effect on one or more of its participants’ food-related preferences, attitudes, and behaviors, although this finding could be attributed to publication bias. In studies that measured it, children’s willingness to try fruits and

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