Feb 06, 2014 06:42 PM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Dousing cheese sauce and peanut butter on greens could teach kids to like vegetables, according to a recent study Reuters reported.

Researchers from Arizona State University found that pairing foods kids don't like with those they do could make a difference between a child who eats his vegetables and one who leaves them on the plate," Mother Nature Network reported.

Parents have been doing this trick for years. However, investigators said parents don't have to rely on veggie "disguises" beyond a couple of tries as food pairings teach children to like their vegetables.

"This has the potential to change the eating habits of children, including eating more vegetables, and this in turn will affect childhood obesity," Elizabeth Capaldi-Phillips, a psychologist at Arizona State University and lead author of the study, told Reuters.

For the study, researchers interviewed the parents of 29 children between the ages of three and five years old about the kids' feelings on 11 different vegetables, including whether they liked or disliked the vegetable, or had never tried it, Reuters reported.

Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts were two vegetables most children had not tried, and were selected as the ones used to gauge children's preferences in the study.

The children were given either cauliflower or Brussels sprouts once per day for seven days,  but some of the kids were given the vegetables plain, while others were served the veggies with cream cheese and still others ate their veggies with a sweetened cream cheese.

After this conditioning period, the kids were given the vegetables plain.

Researchers found that the kids given the Brussels sprouts with sweetened or unsweetened cream cheese said that they liked the vegetable much more than the kids who ate it plain, Reuters reported. Investigators saw similar results with the cauliflower.

Devina Wadhera, also a researcher at Arizona State University and the study's other author, told Reuters this strategy could work, not only for Brussels sprouts, but other vegetables and foods of other kind.

"Children develop food preferences at a young age, yet tend to be really picky at this age, so it's important to sustain healthy habits which will persist into adulthood,"  Wadhera, said. "It's our job as parents, as educators to get them to accept new foods at this time."

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