NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids given a combination of cheese and vegetables will eat only about a quarter as many calories as those given potato chips, according to a new study.

"Like it or not, children like foods that are energy-dense and not those that are nutrient-rich. That is because children are still growing. That is basic physiology," said Adam Drewnowski, director of the Nutritional Sciences Program at the University of Washington, who was not part of the study.

The findings may not be surprising, but they suggest that swapping out potato chips for cheese or vegetables then might help reduce the amount of calories kids eat at snack time, said Adam Brumberg, one of the authors of the study and the deputy director of the Food and Brand Laboratory at Cornell University.

"If you put into the rotation (healthier snacks) you can have a significant impact on weekly caloric intake," he suggested.

The study, which was funded in part by the cheese maker Bel Brands USA, involved 183 kids in 3rd through 6th grade.

Each of the kids was put in a room to watch TV and eat a snack - 45 kids were given potato chips, 36 were offered cheese, 59 were given raw vegetables and 43 were given cheese and vegetables.

After 45 minutes the researchers measured how much food the children had eaten.

They found that kids in the chip group ate by far the most calories - 620 on average.

Kids ate 200 calories of cheese, 60 calories of vegetables and 170 calories of the combination cheese-and-vegetables snack.

"Children tend to eat the foods they like - and one measure of preference is the amount eaten. So chips and cheese beat raw vegetables hands down. Why am I not surprised?" said Drewnowski in an email to Reuters Health.

Read more:
Kids given healthier snacks eat fewer calories