WELLINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Children should eat more fruits and it is better to eat fruits at dinner time, said a New Zealand research report Thursday.

    Deborah Brunt, a researcher at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences of Auckland University, found that children get more iron from fruit depending on when they eat it.

    Toddlers need fruit for iron, which helps development of their brains.

    Brunt's report said children who are given fruit or juice as part of their regular meals have a higher level of iron in their blood than those that eat fruit at other times of the day, or not at all.

    The reason appears to be that your body is primed for maximum absorption of nutrients during regular mealtimes, but less so at other times.

    The Vitamin C in fruit actually helps the absorption of iron.

    The study analyzed data from interviews with 405 New Zealand families about their toddlers' food and general habits and compared the information to laboratory measures of their iron status.

    Study also shows that New Zealand children did not eat as much fruit as they should.

    More than half had two or more servings of fruit per day but only one in 10 ate the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables, regardless of ethnicity or social level.

    Those children that ate fruit at meal times had better iron status than those who ate fruit as a snack or not at all.