Many schools are scrambling to meet a 2006 government mandate for school-wide wellness policies, which includes offering healthy food options during lunchtime. But simply making healthy foods accessible doesn't mean that kids will embrace healthier choices.

Researchers at Loyola University and the University of Illinois at Chicago evaluated a "salad bar project" at two schools in Chicago to determine how to effectively encourage children to eat healthier foods. They found that when nutrition education, which included learning about how vegetables are grown and what they do for the body, and a chance to touch and taste the vegetables, was added to a salad bar option at lunch, the number of students selecting salad bar items quadrupled.