YOUNGSTERS are being targeted by the government in a £2million scheme to promote fruit and vegetables.

The move comes after a survey found few children eat as many fruit and vegetables as experts recommend to protect them against future heart disease and cancer.

As most parents know, getting children to enjoy cabbage and sprouts instead chicken nuggets and chips is an uphill struggle. But there are things parents can do when faced with youngsters wh flatly refuse to tuck into healthy meals.

Jenny Slaughter, paediatric dietician based at Burnley General Hospital, said: "It is not just about providing the right food, because a lot of parents know what the right food is. It is also about providing the right environment and conditions for mealtimes -- this social context is so important.

"Meals should be served in a calm, relaxed atmosphere. If parents are worried about their children's eating they can end up forcing rather than encouraging and passing on their tension to the children. This can make mealtimes very stressful rather than enjoyable."

Jenny also recommends encouraging children to eat the same meals as their parents and at the same time, rather than serving up traditional children's foods such as fish fingers and chips while mum and dad tuck into a chicken and vegetable dinner.

She said: "Children should be encouraged to eat with the family and get into a proper mealtime routine. This should start in babyhood, as should trying different textures of foods. It has been proven that babies will eat what they are given, but in this country we bring them up on baby food so they get used to the very bland texture."

Another problem highlighted by Jenny is that children tend to snack on the wrong thing. She suggests cutting down on snacks if possible, and when children are hungry between meals encourage them to snack on fruit or pieces of cheese, rather than sweets.

She said: "Another mistake parents make is separating foods into "good" and "bad". If mum says "eat your broccoli and you can have a biscuit", the child will think that if they eat what they see as the "bad" broccoli they will get a "good" biscuit. "Also children are very affected by advertising and what their friends have, so another good idea is to try to reduce their exposure to it. "

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey of four to 18-year-olds found that one in five children ate no fruit during the week of the survey and that three out of five ate no leafy green vegetables.

Consumption of salt, saturated fat and sugar was also higher than recommended.

The healthy eating message is already being put across in some East Lancashire schools which have put their own healthy eating schemes into practice.

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "The council promotes healthy lifestyles and healthy eating in schools. Many primary schools give children the choice of salad from the salad bar or veg with their main meal.

"Fresh fruit is always on the menu and council surveys have shown that fresh fruit is as popular with primary school children as ice cream."

Craig Ward, headteacher at Griffin Park Primary School, Blackburn, tries to get the "Five Alive" message across to his pupils -- eat five portions of fruit or vegetables each day to stay healthy.

He said: "We try to address the healthy eating issue in lessons such as physical and social education, science, and during assembly. Our cook is very health conscious and puts on a selection of healthy options and salads at lunchtime."

At Pleckgate High School in Blackburn headteacher Heather Jamieson said: "We have had an impact in our health education lessons, teaching children the benefits of a healthy diet. The catering staff have also been encouraging children to eat salad and vegetables with their meals, and the kitchens make no profit on fruit sold at school."

Picture: Griffin Park Primary School pupils, from the left, Daryl-Ann Burch, Hayley Grieve and Rayomond Patel with unit manager Elaine Dorgan (right) and council catering services manager Kath Baron tuck into a vitamin-packed healthy choice of fruit and vegetables at mealtimes