Eat Them To Defeat Them drives huge rise in kids’ veg consumption

Children taking part in the Eat Them To Defeat Them campaign are eating a startling 60 per cent more vegetables than non-participating children.

That headline figure was among a series of evaluation data findings released by Veg Power, which confirms the positive impact of repeat participation in the Eat Them To Defeat Them (ETTDT) campaign on children’s dietary health.

Not only are participating children eating significantly more vegetables, but 60 per cent of parents are reporting a lasting and long-term improvement in the volume and variety of veg their child eats.

Veg Power has confirmed that the campaign will be running for its eighth year in March 2026. To allow for greater flexibility, schools can choose to focus on a single week or spread their activity over the half term.

A highly impressive 1.8 million children from 5,800 schools across the UK have participated in the ETTDT campaign since it began seven years ago, with 420,000 children from 1,500 primary and special schools participating this year.

The campaign moves away from traditional 5 A Day messaging to a fun and engaging concept designed for children that inspires kids to eat more veg in school and to continue the behaviour at home.

Uniquely, the campaign brings together a huge alliance including celebrities, supermarkets, chefs, schools, communities and families. This year the campaign was sponsored by major supermarket and food brands Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Tilda.

Range of benefits

Veg Power’s evaluation involving 3,000 parents and participating children revealed that ETTDT had a number of benefits, including the power of repeat participation.

Average consumption of vegetables in children who had participated in ETTDT multiple times was 3.5 handfuls/day compared to 2.2 handfuls/day for children who had never taken part. That represents a 60 per cent increase in vegetable consumption for the children involved in the campaign.

The evaluation also revealed that:

• 82 per cent of parents of children who took part said their children ate more vegetables
• 62 per cent of parents of children who take part said they also ate more vegetables as a result of their child’s new veg-eating behaviour at home
• 60 per cent of parents reported a lasting change in their children’s diet
• It is universally enjoyed with high levels of people wanting to repeat the experience – 93 per cent of parents, 89 per cent of children and 94 per cent of schools.

A separate piece of evaluation involving 150 schools also revealed benefits to school meals:

• Pupils ate more veg with their school lunches – reported by 90 per cent of schools
• Pupils were more likely to finish their veg, reducing food waste – reported by 78 per cent of schools
• More children tried school meals – reported by 45 per cent of schools.

Dan Parker, chief executive at Veg Power, said, “We have seen year on year that Eat Them to Defeat Them is having a much-needed positive impact on kids’ veg consumption and that repeated participation leads to long-term improvements in dietary habits.

“This evidence highlights this campaign could play a crucial role in improving children’s dietary habits across the UK and help create lifelong habits to support much-needed change in the health of our nation. We hope more children nationwide next year will be able to take part but we need funding to make this happen.

“With participation in Eat Them to Defeat Them costing approximately 50p per child this is a cost-effective way to make a real impact.”