Taste and its influences. How to make vegetables attractive foods for children

Lucy Cooke is a Senior Research Associate at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit within the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. The unit aims to contribute research that advances understanding of behaviours with a major impact on health.

After a degree in Psychology at UCL, Lucy went on to complete a Masters degree in Health Psychology and was awarded a PhD for research into children’s eating habits in 2006. Her research has been concerned with identifying the determinants of children’s food choices and in devising and testing a parent-led intervention to increase children’s acceptance of vegetables. This work is on-going with plans for an intervention with families of preschool children to modify aspects of the home food environment associated with unhealthy eating habits and weight gain.

In addition, she has been involved in a family-based treatment programme for obese children run jointly by the Unit and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children.