The effect of color on food selection and consumption by nursery school children

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of color on food selection and consumption by nursery school children. The null hypotheses were: 1. There is no difference in the number of servings of food initially selected among the three colors of each food served. 2. There is no difference in the number of servings of food selected after the initial serving selected among the three colors of each food served. 3. There is no difference in the number of total servings of food selected among the three colors of each food served. 4. There is no difference in the grams of food consumed among the three colors of each food served. The subjects for the study were all of the twenty-four three-and-four-year-old boy3 and girls enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Home Economics Nursery School. For one pretest day and eight week days the noon meal at the nursery school was served in cafeteria style. Each child was permitted to choose the foods he desired and was allowed to return to the cafeteria line for as many additional servings of food as he wished. Each child sat at the table where he usually sat and a teacher sitting at the same table each day recorded the number of servings of food that each child selected. Plate waste was weighed and recorded