The proposal to pay children 25c a day to eat fruit and vegetables has the backing of leading dietitian Dr Rosemary Stanton, who advised the government on national food guidelines.

Visiting US Professor Kevin Volpp will on Friday meet with government officials to pitch the plan as part of the solution to childhood obesity after a trial overseas found it doubled healthy eating.

One in four Australian children are overweight or obese and fewer than one in four eat the required two to four serves of vegetables a day.

“When you remove potatoes, zero 14-16 year olds eat the required vegetable intake,” Dr Stanton says.

“The situation is dire … anything that gets kids to taste vegetables would help.”

Professor Volpp is an expert in nudge policies that use behavioural economics to encourage people to ditch unhealthy habits for healthy ones.

Last year in the US state of Utah a study by two economics professors paid primary school children 25c a day to eat a serve of fruit and vegetables and doubled consumption from 40-80 per cent.

“The kids were able to spend their vegetable pocket money in the school shop on trinkets and toys,” he said.

Even after the financial incentive was withdrawn 60-65 per cent of the students continued to eat fruit and vegetables, Professor Volpp said.

Officials from NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s office will meet with Mr Volpp on Friday to gain his insight into innovative ways to tackle childhood and adult obesity and he says he will discuss the payment plan for vegetables.

Mr O’Farrell, who had his own battle with losing extra kilos, has set up a so-called nudge unit within his department that works on finding innovative ways of encouraging people to make better choices.

It would cost governments over $136 million to pay all students aged 5-14 25c a day to eat vegetables, $108 million if only 80 per cent took up the incentive.

Ms Stanton says research shows children need to taste vegetables eight to 10 times before they eat them regularly.

To enable this, more families need to have dinner at a table, because “no-one eats peas on their lap or in front of a computer”, she says.