The key to getting children to eat vegetables lies in persistence, the results of a new study suggest.

According to the findings, ‘repeated exposure' to vegetables at snack and mealtimes is key when trying to improve a child's diet.

The UK researchers analysed a number of methods aimed at encouraging children to eat more vegetables and from this, they were able to determine the three most effective approaches.

The most successful method was found to be ‘repeatedly offering' vegetables every day even if they are not accepted at first. This could take weeks or even months depending on the child's resistance, the researchers acknowledged.

"Don't give up, but don't pressure them. It might feel as if they'll never accept vegetables, but tastes are always changing. Gentle encouragement to try a disliked food is important for helping children to learn to like new tastes," explained Dr Emma Haycraft of Loughborough University in England.

The two other most successful methods of encouraging children to eat vegetables were found to be offering ‘non-food' rewards and parents eating the same meals as their children.

"Eating the same meals has the added bonus of making parents' diets healthier too," noted Dr Clare Holley of Loughborough University.

The study involved 135 families, all of whom offererd their child a raw vegetable which they did not like every day at snack time over a two-week period.

"Offering a piece of a disliked vegetable to children daily for two weeks and giving them a sticker, or another reward, in exchange for trying the vegetable helps them to like and eat the vegetable.

"Parents modelling how much they like the vegetable also appears to help children to be more willing to try them," explained Dr Holley.

She added that recent evidence from the World Health Organization states that low fruit and vegetable intake ‘is one of the five leading behavioural and dietary risk factors for cancer development, so eating a healthy diet really is important for child and adult health'.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Current Nutrition Reports.