MOUNT MAUNGANUI, NEW ZEALAND - Back at the beginning of June, Zespri made headlines with the launch of an insightful study exploring the benefits of a fruit and vegetable-heavy diet for kids. After digging into the results of the Feel Good Study, I tapped Dr. Paul Blatchford, Zespri’s Innovation Manager – Core Products, for a deeper understanding of the study and its implications.

“Core to our beliefs, Zespri aims to make a positive contribution to people's livelihoods and wellbeing, and the Feel Good Study is a first step toward seeking concrete evidence of the positive effects of fruit and vegetables (FV) on primary school children’s overall development,” Paul shared. “By bridging the research gap, Zespri assessed the viability and acceptability of a FV intervention in children, emphasizing well-being outcomes. We hope that this study brings more awareness and research that shows the correlation between a healthy diet and children’s well-being to improve overall health.”

As Paul and the Zespri team shared, early education on healthy habits increases the likelihood of children carrying these traits into adulthood, directly influencing their lifelong well-being and creating long-time produce fanatics.

“At Zespri, we believe that more can be done to bring forward tangible results on nutrition outcomes on children’s well-being,” Paul continued. “We know of many studies that show the connection between increased FV consumption and improved physical health; however, research on the impacts of FV on children’s well-being has only started to gain interest in the past few years.”

The Feel Good Study unveiled promising insights that suggest positive changes to diet quality, vegetable intake, and behavioral outcomes in the intervention group.

“The main findings of the Feel Good Study demonstrated the potential of continuing to a full randomized controlled clinical study. Furthermore, the study suggested an increase in FV acceptance, overall diet quality, as well as vegetable intake among participants by raising awareness of the diverse options available locally,” added Paul. “A multi-component approach of school- and home-based strategies cultivated a stronger behavioral change among children and parents/caregivers. Although the results did not reach statistical significance, the study showed an indicative trend of positive improvement to emotional well-being scores in the intervention group compared to the control group.”

With the initial results from the Feel Good Study now published, Zespri will be focusing its attention on trials in China and other key markets and sharing those results once they are available.

“We believe the Feel Good Study sets the foundation for large-scale clinical trials that are set to take place in other key markets for the company as part of building greater knowledge and capacity to encourage sustainable change and cultivate positive eating habits in children in the long run,” Paul concluded.

As the company scales this exploration to other markets, Zespri aims to foster meaningful partnerships and welcome interest from other like-minded organizations who share the same commitment in promoting healthy eating habits from an early age, and ultimately building healthier societies.

ANUK will continue to report as the kiwifruit brand pushes further toward this mission, so stick around for more updates.