Abstract:
Childhood obesity is a serious public health concern. Interventions to address this
problem should not focus on biological and individual factors only, but they should target
the factors in the child’s environment that affect his eating choices. Recent studies have
shown that choice experiments are an important tool to assess children’s choices. The aim
of this study is to explore why school aged children living in greater Beirut, make certain
food choices, in the context of a real food modeling experiment. It also aims to
understand to what degree the choices made in this choice experiment are similar to the
real food choices they make in their life. Twenty-seven children in grades four, five and
six played a game displaying a choice experiment. Then they were interviewed. Factors
that were intended to be studies (food price, food placement, food preparation and
mother’s/ peer’s influence), have been shown to affect children’s food choices in addition
to new factors that emerged (Expected taste, the degree to which the food is considered
by the child and food safety). The findings also revealed that this choice experiment
reflects children’s real food choices. These findings can be used to inform policies aiming
to address childhood obesity
