Getting children to eat their vegetables starts in the womb, researchers suggest

Rather than bribery, or hiding carrots under ketchup, the key may be to expose foetuses to healthy flavours

It is an age-old battle with small children that most parents will recognise: please, please, eat your vegetables.

Some will read them books with titles such as The Boy Who Loved Broccoli. Others have been known to smother veg in tomato ketchup, or mix avocado and fruit with Greek yoghurt and call it icecream. Or resort to plain bribery.

Now, a study suggests there may be a more effective approach – but mothers need to start early.

Researchers have discovered that young children are less likely to react negatively to the smell of vegetables that they were repeatedly exposed to before birth.