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Abstract

Most young children do not meet current dietary recommendations, consuming too many energy-dense foods and too few nutrient-dense foods like vegetables. We compared two approaches to increasing children's liking of vegetables by having them repeatedly taste small portions of vegetables that were initially not liked, presented either alone (repeated exposure; RE) or with a liked dip (associative conditioning; AC). We first conducted a between-subjects experiment, where classrooms at a childcare center were each assigned a vegetable that most children did not like, and individual children were assigned to either the RE or AC condition. A second experiment was conducted to test whether the same results would be obtained using a within-subjects design, in which each child was assigned to repeatedly taste two vegetables that were not liked, one presented with dip and one without. In both experiments, vegetable liking was assessed before, during, and after a series of eight tasting trials, and vegetable intake was measured before and after the tasting trials in Experiment 1. In both experiments, children's vegetable liking increased from pre- to post-test, but there was no evidence of associative conditioning effects. Increases in vegetable liking, as well as intake, were similar across conditions. Although the addition of the liked dip did not augment overall effects on vegetable liking, there was some evidence that the liked dips could be used to encourage initial tasting of vegetables. In both experiments and both conditions, increases in liking were detected by the sixth exposure to the vegetable. Additional tasting trials did not produce additional increases in liking, but the increases in liking were sustained throughout the experiments. The current evidence suggests that administering few small tastes of vegetables that are initially not liked can have a lasting impact on preschool children's liking and intake of those vegetables.

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... Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the studies included in this review. Of the 38 included studies, 18 (47%) were conducted in Europe, 5,14-30 17 (45%) were carried out in North America, 10,11,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] and the remaining 3 studies were conducted in Australia, 46 Turkey, 47 or Thailand. 48 Most studies took place in nurseries, childcare centers or kindergartens, with 2 exceptions in family childcare venues. ...
... 43,44 Sample size varied. The largest sample size was 166 centers 34 and 838 children, 31 whereas the smallest size was one center 10,23,27,33,35,37,39,41,43 and 14 children. 36 In addition, 12 of the 38 studies were cross-sectional studies, 26 of them adopted an experimental design, with 11 within-subject and 15 between-subject designs. ...
... In the remaining 26 intervention studies (Table 4), intervention strategies were implemented to improve the quality of dietary environments and effects on children's eating behaviors were examined. The most frequently used strategy in these studies was dietary learning, [14][15][16][17]20,26,[28][29][30]33,42 including repeated exposure (RE), flavor-flavor learning (FFL, a strategy by which a novel flavor is paired with another, already liked flavor), and flavor-nutrient learning (FNL, a strategy by which associations are established between a novel flavor of food and its post-ingestion consequences). In the second group of intervention studies, food and beverage provision was manipulated, for instance, serving fruits and vegetables in advance, 35 offering a choice, 15,27 or serving a specific portion size. ...
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Objectives: An increasing number of young children spend time and eat at least one meal per day in childcare programs, highlighting the significance of early care and education (ECE) settings in promoting children's healthy dietary behaviors. The purpose of this review was to summarize quantitative studies on the relationship between the dietary environment in ECE settings and the eating behaviors of children aged 0-6 years. Methods: We consulted Web of Science, PsycInfo, ProQuest, and Emerald electronic databases, searching for empirical studies from 2000 to 2022. Results: Ultimately, we included 38 studies. Measures of the dietary environment varied considerably across studies. Following healthy diet regulations and nutrition-related activities were positively correlated with children's intake of healthy foods. Strategies such as serving fruits and vegetables in advance, serving small portion sizes, and providing children a variety of vegetables increased children's intake of healthy foods. Results on caregivers' feeding practices remained mixed. Conclusions: These findings reveal the necessity and importance of paying attention to different aspects of the dietary environment and to take a comprehensive approach to understanding the role that environment plays in cultivating children's dietary behaviors.
... Among the children who were exposed to the carrot-promoting picture book, those who were exposed to the interactive shared reading had greater consumption of carrot than the children in the passive shared reading. 45 The measures used in each study are listed in Table 2. Of the 55 studies, researchers measured only fruits and/or vegetables consumption in 19 16,30,43,50,51,59,63,68,69,73,75,79,81,[83][84][85][86][87]90 ; snacks and dessert consumption was measured in 9 studies 42,44,53,57,58,[70][71][72]74 ; in 28 studies, researchers measured consumption from multiple food groups. 12,16,28,40,[45][46][47][48][52][53][54][55]59,61,62,[64][65][66][67][68][76][77][78][79][80][81]88,89 In 1 study, only beverage consumption was measured, 41 and in another, only entr ee (ie, the main cooked meal, such as sandwich, pasta, rice and curry) consumption was measured. ...
... 12,16,28,40,[45][46][47][48][52][53][54][55]59,61,62,[64][65][66][67][68][76][77][78][79][80][81]88,89 In 1 study, only beverage consumption was measured, 41 and in another, only entr ee (ie, the main cooked meal, such as sandwich, pasta, rice and curry) consumption was measured. 60 In most studies, researchers measured children's dietary intake by weighing (n ¼ 31) 40,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54]56,[59][60][61][63][64][65][66][67][68][72][73][74][75][77][78][79][80][82][83][84][85][86] and plate-waste methods (n ¼ 14) 40,42,45,48,55,57,[65][66][67][68][69]87,88,90 ; 4 studies used childcare teacher records, including 1 teacher-reported food frequency questionnaire 16,28,46,69,70 ; 4 studies used dietary observation in the childcare center; 2 studies used digital photography 47,48 ; 5 studies used visual estimation and observation 41,58,69,70,81 ; and 1 study used recordings by researchers, along with weighing 56 ( Table 2). ...
... Of the 32 prepost studies, 11 had low risk of bias, 18 had moderate risk, and 3 had high risk. [49][50][51]53,54,56,59,63,64,67,[70][71][72][73][74][75][77][78][79][80] and conducting appropriate statistical analyses. [49][50][51]56,57,63,64,[66][67][68][70][71][72][73][74][75]78,79 Common weaknesses included having 2 data collection points (baseline and postintervention), a small sample size, and not including individual-level data in the analysis. ...
Article
Context: Children consume up to two-thirds of their daily dietary requirements in full-time childcare, making the setting a critical vector for preventing childhood obesity. Objective: To summarize the ecological correlates of children's dietary intake in childcare settings that were identified and categorized using the Six-Cs developmental ecological model of contributors to overweight and obesity in childhood. Data sources: A literature search was conducted in 4 electronic databases. Study selection: English-language, peer-reviewed publications that investigated at least 1 correlate of children's (ages 2-6 years) dietary intake in childcare settings and measured children's actual consumption of foods and beverages from food groups were included. Data extraction: Correlates were categorized into child, clan, community, and country groups. Results: A total of 55 studies, which examined 29 correlates, were reviewed. Correlates identified included child's age, sex, characteristics of food provision (namely, food composition, foods and beverages served, portion sizes), repeated exposure, nutrition education, book reading, peer influence, meal service type, and childcare teachers' responsive feeding practices. Policies and participation in Head Start and the Child and Adult Care Food Program could not be determined as correlates of children's dietary intake, owing to a lack of evidence. Conclusion: This review produced a list of correlates to consider in designing interventions to improve children's dietary intake in childcare settings. The correlates could contribute to development of lifelong healthy eating habits, thereby preventing childhood obesity.
... Consumption Interventions. Consumption interventions come in a variety of forms, such stimulus equivalence procedures to increase accurate and healthy portion size selection (Hausman, Borrero, Fisher, & Kahng, 2014;Trucil, Vladescu, Reeve, DeBar, & Schnell, 2015); taste exposure to shift preferences of consumed foods (Anzman-Frasca, Savage, Marini, Fisher, & Birch, 2012;Hausner, Olsen, & Moller, 2012;Lakkakula et al., 2010;Solberg, Hanley, Layer, & Ingvarsson, 2007); gamification (Cassey, Washio, & Hantula, 2016;Jones, Madden, Wengreen, Aguilar, & Desjardins, 2014;Lowe, Horne, Tapper, Bowdery, & Egerton, 2004;Morrill, Madden, Wengreen, Fargo, & Aguilar, 2016); and token reinforcement to increase fruit and veggie selection (Loewenstein, Price, & Volpp, 2016). A person's thumb/fist, tennis ball, coaster, and teaspoon are common items used in stimulus equivalence procedures to help individuals identify the appropriate amount of a certain food that should be consumed. ...
... Lakkakula et al. (2010) demonstrated that repeated taste exposure in which individuals are repeatedly presented with a bite-sized portion of food can shift taste preferences and consumption. Importantly, adding dips or condiments to taste exposure interventions does not increase efficacy and may be counterproductive (Anzman-Frasca et al., 2012;Hausner et al., 2012;Solberg et al., 2007). Additionally, adding tangible and social reinforcers can lead to longer-term maintenance than taste exposure alone (Cooke et al., 2011). ...
... Consumption Interventions. Consumption interventions come in a variety of forms, such stimulus equivalence procedures to increase accurate and healthy portion size selection (Hausman, Borrero, Fisher, & Kahng, 2014;Trucil, Vladescu, Reeve, DeBar, & Schnell, 2015); taste exposure to shift preferences of consumed foods (Anzman-Frasca, Savage, Marini, Fisher, & Birch, 2012;Hausner, Olsen, & Moller, 2012;Lakkakula et al., 2010;Solberg, Hanley, Layer, & Ingvarsson, 2007); gamification (Cassey, Washio, & Hantula, 2016;Jones, Madden, Wengreen, Aguilar, & Desjardins, 2014;Lowe, Horne, Tapper, Bowdery, & Egerton, 2004;Morrill, Madden, Wengreen, Fargo, & Aguilar, 2016); and token reinforcement to increase fruit and veggie selection (Loewenstein, Price, & Volpp, 2016). A person's thumb/fist, tennis ball, coaster, and teaspoon are common items used in stimulus equivalence procedures to help individuals identify the appropriate amount of a certain food that should be consumed. ...
... Lakkakula et al. (2010) demonstrated that repeated taste exposure in which individuals are repeatedly presented with a bite-sized portion of food can shift taste preferences and consumption. Importantly, adding dips or condiments to taste exposure interventions does not increase efficacy and may be counterproductive (Anzman-Frasca et al., 2012;Hausner et al., 2012;Solberg et al., 2007). Additionally, adding tangible and social reinforcers can lead to longer-term maintenance than taste exposure alone (Cooke et al., 2011). ...
... Another learning strategy used to promote healthy food preferences is associative conditioning, or the repeated pairing of a target food with an already-liked stimulus in an effort to increase acceptance of the target food on its own. Evaluations of this strategy have yielded mixed results, with several studies failing to show that associative conditioning is superior to mere repeated exposure Anzman-Frasca et al., 2012). Research with nonfood rewards has also produced mixed results, with some studies showing that offering stickers or social praise for consumption of a disliked vegetable has positive impacts over and above repeated exposure (Cooke et al., 2011). ...
... Gottlieb's probabilistic epigenesis theory fits with the idea that constitutionally based individual differences coact with environmental experiences over time to predict outcomes. The most effective approach to promoting food acceptance may depend on children's characteristics (Anzman-Frasca et al., 2012Keller, 2014), and efforts to tailor interventions and feeding advice selected from a "toolbox" of possible learning strategies could lead to improved outcomes. ...
Article
In many nations today, the quality of children's diets is low, with numerous children rejecting healthy foods. Fortunately, young children can learn to like and consume new and previously rejected foods with experience, as evidenced by extensive experimental research. In this article, we propose integrating research on children's food preference learning with concepts from developmental science to facilitate generalizability across a wider range of children's characteristics and environments. We review emerging research suggesting that increased consideration of individual differences in responsiveness to food preference learning strategies and ecological validity can facilitate dissemination of evidence‐based feeding strategies that fit various children's characteristics and contexts. We incorporate Gottlieb's theory of probabilistic epigenesis to illustrate the importance of considering both individual differences in constitutionally based characteristics and children's naturalistic eating environments since these continually act together to affect eating outcomes. Further research incorporating these factors can help a broader population of parents and caregivers encourage healthy eating in young children's everyday environments.
... Children's diets are influenced by taste preferences, repeated exposures, social experiences, and availability. [4][5][6][7][8] Consequently, nutrition education programming exposing children to healthful foods may shape their dietary patterns and provide a foundation to grow into healthy adults. 9 Implementing programming in school settings provides an effective means to improve children's health by offering access to a large number of students through these institutions which are important community hubs. ...
... So, given evidence repeated exposures increase preference for foods, not detecting a difference in preference between intervention and control groups for this novel food is in line with recognized pathways to behavior change. [6][7][8] Classroom survey results additionally demonstrate INEP significantly impacted student preferences for vegetables, self-efficacy, and knowledge. These constructs are associated with healthy-eating behaviors among elementary-school students. ...
Article
BACKGROUND This paper presents the effectiveness of a multi-component elementary school-based nutrition education program, the Integrated Nutrition Education Program (INEP), which has been in existence for over 25 years. INEP includes components to address multiple layers of influence: hands-on nutrition education lessons in the classroom (student-level), parent education, and outreach (home-level), and facilitation of a planning process to implement policy, system, and environmental (PSE) school changes (school-level). METHODS Three evaluation tools assessed the effectiveness of the program: (1) classroom plate waste measurement in intervention (N = 149 students) and demographically-matched comparison schools (N = 131 students), (2) pre/post classroom surveys completed by students who participated in INEP (N = 204), and (3) PSE change data from participating schools (N = 47 schools). RESULTS Students who participated in the nutrition education program were more likely to consume vegetable-based recipes and vegetables included in classroom nutrition lessons compared to students in comparison classrooms (Chinese vegetable salad: p < .001; couscous salad: p < .001; snap peas: p = .001). Classroom survey analyses showed improvements in student self-efficacy (p < .001), preference for vegetables (p = .005), and knowledge (p < .001). In addition, through a wellness planning process, schools implemented an average of 3.7 PSE changes per school. CONCLUSIONS Results demonstrate a multi-component school-based nutrition education program improves student nutrition-related outcomes.
... Indeed, results from this pilot intervention indicated that the Pavlovian conditioning trials increased the capacity of fruit intake to acutely repair negative mood, compared to a stringent control group that also ate fruit and engaged in relaxation at separate times. These results are similar to those of prior studies wherein Pavlovian conditioning has increased preference for neutral and novel foods, as well as for vegetables (36)(37)(38)(39). Moreover, these results are promising because several naturalistic and laboratory studies document that negative mood shifts dietary choices away from fruits and towards traditional comfort foods that are high in calories, fat, sugar, and/or salt (for a review, see Ref. (23)). ...
... This study incorporated a gold-standard explicitly unpaired control group, with control participants receiving the same number of doses of PMR and fruit intake as the intervention group, but in a temporally unpaired fashion. Given that repeated exposure alone is sufficient to increase liking of foods such as vegetables (39), had the study instead incorporated a no-treatment control group, the intervention may have shown greater efficacy. ...
Article
Objective: Perceived stress, lower fruit intake, and comfort eating are all risk factors for chronic disease. The present pilot study aimed to simultaneously mitigate all three risk factors by applying Pavlovian conditioning to change the nature of comfort eating. Specifically, stressed participants underwent a Pavlovian conditioning intervention designed to elicit comforting effects of fruit intake and thereby reduce negative mood while promoting fruit intake. Methods: We developed a seven-dose Pavlovian conditioning intervention wherein participants temporally paired together Progressive Muscle Relaxation (unconditioned stimulus) with fruit intake (conditioned stimulus) daily for 1 week. Participants (N = 100, mean [standard deviation] age = 20.7 [4.6] years; 74% female) with moderate to high levels of baseline perceived stress were randomized to the intervention or an active explicitly unpaired control group, wherein the Progressive Muscle Relaxation and fruit intake also occurred but were not temporally paired together. After the intervention, participants' negative mood was assessed immediately before and after fruit intake to assess conditioning effects. Then, participants logged their regular food intake for 4 days using the MyFitnessPal smartphone app. Results: After the intervention, fruit intake acutely improved negative mood to a greater extent among the intervention versus control group (F(1,98) = 3.99, p = .048, = 0.039). However, there was not a significant between-group difference in intake of fruit or traditional comfort foods at postintervention. Conclusions: Repeated pairing of fruit intake with a reliable distress-reducing activity led to the conditioning of comforting effects of fruit intake. Further refinement of the intervention design is necessary to translate this conditioned association to actual intake of fruit and other foods.
... However, despite initial evidence that conditioning procedures may alter preschool children's eating behavior, it has been noted that the effects vary considerably across studies (e.g., DeCosta et al., 2017;Keller, 2014;Tauriello, Bowker, Wilding, Epstein, & Anzman-Frasca, 2020). In fact, there are several examples of flavor-flavor or flavor-nutrient conditioning failing to outperform a control condition, such as mere food exposure, in preschool children (e.g., Anzman-Frasca, Savage, Marini, Fisher, & Birch, 2012;Caton et al., 2013;Fisher et al., 2012; see also ;Zeinstra, Koelen, & de Graaf, 2009), calling into question whether it is the pairing of healthy foods with positive stimuli that causally affects children's food choice and consumption. ...
... While such dissociation may suggest that behavior and explicit evaluations are differently sensitive to the effects of pairings (e.g., Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006), it may also be the case that the specific hearts distribution task may have been too complex and not be suited for assessing food-related evaluations (e. g., Chen, Resurreccion, & Paguio, 1996). Indeed, studies on children's food preference conditioning frequently assess food-related rather than general evaluations (e.g., "yummy" vs. "yucky"-ratings rather than hearts, Anzman-Frasca et al., 2012), limiting the comparability of the current findings with previous research. A replication and extension using other existing food-based evaluations could therefore be informative. ...
Article
Given the increasing rates and severe consequences of childhood obesity, how to encourage children to eat low-calorie and healthy foods is an important question. Building on evaluative conditioning research, this study investigated how associating fruits and vegetables with positive, non-food stimuli influences preschool children's food choice and consumption. Consistent with this idea, it was found in two experiments that 3- to 6-year-old children's healthy food choice and consumption increased by pairing a healthy food's picture systematically with a positive, non-food image. These findings highlight a simple yet effective means of changing young children's eating behavior, which may complement existing intervention procedures.
... For example, that a focus on food waste does not result in a menu that only provides foods that children prefer to eat, as best practice guidelines for child feeding advise that food should continue to be offered even when refused the first time, to ensure repeated exposure to a variety of foods. (4,37) Another example would be to ensure that children receive adequate quantities of food and that food portions are not reduced in order to mitigate food waste. (38) Future evaluation should include any impacts food waste reductions have on food costs as a result of implementing the resource toolkit. ...
Article
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Objective To co-design support strategies to enable sustainable, healthy, affordable food provision, including waste mitigation practices, in Australian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. Design Based upon the co-design IDEAS framework (Ideate, DEsign, Assess & Share), this co-design process involved iterative interviews and focus groups with ECEC centre staff, and workshops with Nutrition Australia. Interview and workshop themes were coded to the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to develop initial prototypes for support strategies that were further developed and refined in focus groups. Setting ECEC with onsite food provision, in Victoria, Australia. Participants ECEC staff and a Victorian Government funded program delivered through Nutrition Australia that provides nutrition support to ECEC services. Results ECEC staff interviews (n=17) suggested a lack of knowledge on the topic of sustainable healthy food provision and a need for resources and support for all staff and children. Workshops with Nutrition Australia built on interviews and suggested a focus on lower intensity strategies, and a suggestion to embed knowledge-related activities into the children’s curriculum. Focus groups (n=8) further informed co-design of strategies, producing a visual representation of sustainable healthy food provision with supporting tips and a whole-of-centre approach that includes children through a classroom activity. Conclusions The co-designed resources could provide feasible strategies for the adoption of sustainable, healthy and affordable provision practices in the ECEC setting. Involvement of a local government-funded health promotion service provides valuable research-to-practice contribution as well opportunity for scalable dissemination of resources through existing infrastructure.
... Specifically, six or more exposures have consistently been shown to produce liking and intake of vegetables. [34][35][36][37][38][39] Fruit and vegetable tracking has indicated that most pediatric patients (8-18 years of age) reach this threshold after approximately 24 months (2 years) of exposure to the current FVPP. ...
Article
Full-text available
Background Health impacts of pediatric fruit and vegetable prescription programs (FVPPs) are unclear. This study assessed whether exposure to an FVPP that provided $15 produce prescriptions during pediatric visits was associated with differences in child diet, food security, physical activity, weight status, and blood pressure. Methods This cross-sectional analysis included data from caregiver-child dyads with varying levels of exposure to the FVPP. Dyads completed surveys at pediatric offices. Trained research assistants measured height and weight of children and recorded blood pressure through chart review. Causal inference analyses using propensity score adjustments compared outcomes of exposure groups. Results 680 dyads enrolled. Youth who received ≥1 prescription (exposed) reported greater physical activity compared to youth who received no prescriptions (unexposed). Blood pressure percentiles were lower among exposed when compared to unexposed youth (63.273 versus 75.060 for SBP; 71.472 versus 77.548 for DBP); and fewer exposed children recorded elevated blood pressure when compared to unexposed (0.141 versus 0.343 for SBP; 0.199 versus 0.344 for DBP; and 0.286 versus 0.531 overall). Similar findings were obtained using duration as a measure of exposure. Conclusion Youth exposed to the FVPP experienced greater physical activity and healthier blood pressure. Findings may indicate novel health-promoting effects of pediatric FVPPs. Impact When compared to youth with no exposure, youth exposed to a pediatric fruit and vegetable prescription program recorded greater physical activity and healthier blood pressure. Youth with high exposure (≥24 months) to the fruit and vegetable prescription program experienced greater physical activity and healthier blood pressure when compared to youth with low exposure (<24 months). This extends evaluation of pediatric fruit and vegetable prescription programs beyond feasibility and preliminary effectiveness to indicate potential of such programs in positively influencing physical activity and blood pressure of participating youth. Findings indicate novel health-promoting effects of pediatric fruit and vegetable prescription programs.
... This is unfortunate, as a previous study suggested that although the acceptability of legumes by youths (7-16 years old) varied in general by legume categories, the acceptability of beans and chili with beans was high, at 67% and 66%, respectively [33]. Further, exposing children to nutritious foods during infancy can influence their liking and willingness to consume healthy foods in the longer term [34][35][36]. Our results suggest that the majority of infants and children do not consume bean products in sufficient quantities, with low consumption of dried beans and chili observed across age groups. ...
Article
Full-text available
Bean consumption during childhood may play a role in promoting early-life health given their high nutritional quality. To examine the associations of children’s bean consumption with the socio-demographic characteristics of the child and mother and the child’s nutrient intake, we analyzed data from the WIC-ITFPS-2, which followed children and their mothers at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 24 months (m) following birth. Caregivers (mostly mothers) responded to an interview-administered 24 h recall on their child’s dietary intake at each time point. The intake of dried beans, chili, yellow beans, and lima beans was quantified. Correlate measures included socio-demographic characteristics. Outcome measures of interest focused on the intake of macronutrients (grams and % kcals) and micronutrients at 11 (infancy) and 24 m (toddler) only. To ensure statistical power, we only examined the associations of dried beans and chili with socio-demographics (Chi-square tests) and nutritional outcomes (ANOVA) at 11 and 24 m. The proportion of children who consumed dried beans or chili was very low in the first 6 m of age, started to increase at 7 m (1.2% and 0.4%) and 11 m (4.9% and 2.3%), and reached a high level at 18 m (10.5%) and 24 m (5.9%), respectively. Consumption of yellow or lima beans was rare (<0.1%). At 11 and 24 m, dried bean consumption was higher in children who were White (vs. Black). Dried bean and chili consumption was higher in children who were of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity (vs. non-Hispanic or non-Latino ethnicity). Children who consumed dried beans and chili at 11 or 24 m had a higher intake of total energy, protein, total fiber, potassium, folate, and magnesium compared with non-consumers. The bean consumption was low amongst children, differed by race and ethnicity, and was associated with improved macro- and micronutrient intake in children at 11 and 24 m.
... Children's food preferences change as a result of experience, and therefore it is important to enable them to have a free contact with foods and meals. The research show that such strategy is more efficient than rewarding [7,124]. Exposure to new foods is cumulative -the more new products and meals there are in the child's diet, the faster they are accepted [79]. ...
... Programas de educação nutricional com duração de um ano já são capazes de estabelecer mudanças benéficas no comportamento, consumo e conhecimento alimentar entre as crianças (VIO et al., 2014;BOCK;BREITENSTEIN;FISCHER, 2012;CHUANLAI et al., 2010) ao promover hábitos alimentares a partir da experiência e da observação (ANZMAN-FRASCA et al., 2012). Sendo assim, percebe-se a importância de ações de EAN como estratégias de promoção de hábitos alimentares saudáveis de forma permanente (BRASIL, 2012 ...
Article
Objetivo: Avaliar o impacto de um programa de educação alimentar e nutricional sobre o reconhecimento e a preferência de alimentos regionais com pré-escolares. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo de intervenção não controlado realizado em duas escolas filantrópicas localizadas em Aracaju, Sergipe com 188 pré-escolares. O programa teve duração de um ano, envolvendo atividades educativas lúdicas, mensais e semanais, com foco em quatro alimentos regionais. O reconhecimento foi avaliado por entrevista individual e as preferências por alimentos regionais foram avaliadas pelo método da Escala hedônica facial bifurcada de 5 pontos. Foram avaliadas as diferenças entre faixa etária e sexo. Resultados: Observou-se aumento no reconhecimento e nas preferências alimentares das crianças. Com relação ao reconhecimento, verificou-se resultados positivos para o sexo feminino sendo a couve refogada (p<0,046) e a laranja in natura (p<0,039) os alimentos com melhores resultados após as intervenções, e para crianças com faixa etária de 5 a 6 anos. Já para as preferências alimentares, os resultados foram similares para todos os alimentos entre os sexos e faixas etárias, exceto para couve que obteve melhores resultados para o sexo masculino (p<0,046). Conclusão: O programa escolar mostrou mudanças positivas no reconhecimento e preferências alimentares de alimentos regionais, mostrando a importância das estratégias de educação alimentar e nutricional com crianças no ambiente escolar.
... For example, promoting fruit consumption might be relatively easy to achieve, in light of the natural predisposition to prefer sweet tastes (Mennella and Beauchamp 2010). In contrast, vegetables require children to familiarise with a less sweet taste through repeated exposure (Anzman-Frasca et al. 2012;Caton et al. 2013). Serving barriers (e.g. ...
Article
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SuperFIT aims to improve the dietary and physical activity behaviour of children (2-4 years) in the Dutch childcare and home setting. Healthy parenting practices, policies, and availability of materials, fruits, and vegetables were promoted over the course of a year. This pilot study, with a quasi-experimental design, examined the effectiveness of children's intake of fruits, vegetables, water, and sweet beverages. Families attending intervention preschools could participate in the partial (preschool) or full (preschool + home) intervention. Parental 24-hour recalls assessed the child's diet at baseline and two follow-ups. Data from 81 control and 88 intervention children was included in a three-level hierarchical logistic regression. The full intervention showed significantly favourable effects for sweet beverages (B = −1.85, P < 0.05) and unfavourable effects for vegetables (B = −1.94, P < 0.05), compared to the control between the second follow-up and baseline. No significant effects were found for fruit or water, nor for the partial intervention. More research in a larger sample is needed to confirm current findings. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03021980.
... Moreover, parental education, family rules, and parental encouragement are also suggested to affect children's dietary intake [38,39]. Likewise, the association between food exposure in the school and home environment with healthy food consumption among children was proposed [40,41]. ...
Article
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Purpose There is a paucity of evidence regarding the influential factors on Iranian children’s diet quality. To assess this issue, we explore the relationship between parental diet quality, socioeconomic status (SES), and nutritional knowledge with their children’s diet quality using a cross-sectional sample of the Iranian population. Methods In this study, paired parents along with one of their children (aged 6–18 years old) who lived with them were included. Dietary intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and diet quality was determined using an Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI). Nutritional knowledge and SES were also explored using validated questionnaires. Multiple linear regression analysis was used and beta (β) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were reported. Results After controlling for potential confounders, the parents’ AHEI was significantly associated with their children’s diet quality (β = 12.34, 95% CI: 10.75, 13.93; P < 0.001). The nutritional knowledge of parents was significantly associated with children’s AHEI after controlling for potential confounders (β = 1.63, 95% CI: 0.14, 3.11; P = 0.032). Moreover, the parents’ SES was inversely associated with the AHEI of children (β=-3.76, 95% CI: -5.40, -2.11; P < 0.001); however, further adjustment for confounders attenuated this relationship (Model 3: β = 0.87, 95% CI: -0.76, 2.34; P = 0.269). Conclusions We found that the children’s diet quality could be influenced by their parents’ SES, nutritional knowledge, and diet quality. Our findings suggest that improving the nutritional knowledge of parents not only may improve the healthy eating pattern of parents but also could influence their children’s diet quality.
... There is, however, a very large, and well-documented, variation in vegetable preference, suggesting that consuming vegetables in the modern food environment is not a lost cause; and underlying variation in one of the decision drivers can be targeted to increase acceptance. One of the most effective interventions to increase vegetable intake is repeated exposure [9,10] which results in increased liking for the target vegetable [9]. ...
Article
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Saliva is well-described in oral food processing, but its role in taste responsiveness remains understudied. Taste stimuli must dissolve in saliva to reach their receptor targets. This allows the constituents of saliva the opportunity to interact with taste stimuli and their receptors at the most fundamental level. Yet, despite years of correlational data suggesting a role for salivary proteins in food preference, there were few experimental models to test the role of salivary proteins in taste-driven behaviors. Here we review our experimental contributions to the hypothesis that salivary proteins can alter taste function. We have developed a rodent model to test how diet alters salivary protein expression, and how salivary proteins alter diet acceptance and taste. We have found that salivary protein expression is modified by diet, and these diet-induced proteins can, in turn, increase the acceptance of a bitter diet. The change in acceptance is in part mediated by a change in taste signaling. Critically, we have documented increased detection threshold, decreased taste nerve signaling, and decreased oromotor responding to quinine when animals have increases in a subset of salivary proteins compared to control conditions.
... This was noted as a suggestion among authors in a systematic review on garden-based interventions among preschoolers [17]. Another strength of our study is providing children with repeat taste exposure of vegetables, which past research has shown to be effective in increasing intake [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]. Furthermore, our study focused on providing the ECE menus with local fresh vegetables, addressing the need for studies that intervene in the social determinants of health. ...
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Establishing healthy eating habits during childhood is critical to prevent chronic diseases that develop in adulthood. Tribally owned Early Childhood and Education (ECE) programs signify fundamental influence in childhood obesity disparities. A strategy to improve diet is the use of school gardens; however, few studies have used rigorous methods to assess diet and health outcomes. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe results from the six-month Food Resource Equity for Sustainable Health (FRESH) study among Native American families. We aimed to recruit 176 families of children attending Osage Nation ECE programs in four communities. Two communities received the intervention and two served as wait-list controls. Outcomes included change in dietary intake, body mass index, health status, systolic blood pressure (adults only), and food insecurity in children and parents. There were 193 children (n = 106 intervention; n = 87 control) and 170 adults (n = 93 intervention; n = 77 control) enrolled. Vegetable intake significantly increased in intervention children compared to controls for squash (p = 0.0007) and beans (p = 0.0002). Willingness to try scores increased for beans in intervention children (p = 0.049) and tomatoes in both groups (p = 0.01). FRESH is the first study to implement a farm-to-school intervention in rural, tribally owned ECEs. Future interventions that target healthy dietary intake among children should incorporate a comprehensive parent component in order to support healthy eating for all household members.
... WISE was co-developed with end users to meet the curricular and budgetary needs of the ECE context [10,11] and is included in the US Department of Agriculture SNAP-Ed toolkit [12]. Research supports each WISE EBP: (1) multiple hands-on exposures to FV support food acceptance [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]; (2) role modeling by educators allows children to observe a trusted adult eating FV [20][21][22]; (3) positive feeding practices support children's self-regulation [22][23][24]; and (4) mascot use associates a familiar character with FV [25][26][27][28][29][30]. Each EBP aligns with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' "Benchmarks for Nutrition in Childcare. ...
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Background: Despite the potential for Early Care and Education (ECE) settings to promote healthy habits, a gap exists between current practices and evidence-based practices (EBPs) for obesity prevention in childhood. Methods: We will use an enhanced non-responder trial design to determine the effectiveness and incremental cost-effectiveness of an adaptive implementation strategy for Together, We Inspire Smart Eating (WISE), while examining moderators and mediators of the strategy effect. WISE is a curriculum that aims to increase children's intake of carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables through four evidence-based practices in the early care and education setting. In this trial, we will randomize sites that do not respond to low-intensity strategies to either (a) continue receiving low-intensity strategies or (b) receive high-intensity strategies. This design will determine the effect of an adaptive implementation strategy that adds high-intensity versus one that continues with low-intensity among non-responder sites. We will also apply explanatory, sequential mixed methods to provide a nuanced understanding of implementation mechanisms, contextual factors, and characteristics of sites that respond to differing intensities of implementation strategies. Finally, we will conduct a cost effectiveness analysis to estimate the incremental effect of augmenting implementation with high-intensity strategies compared to continuing low-intensity strategies on costs, fidelity, and child health outcomes. Discussion: We expect our study to contribute to an evidence base for structuring implementation support in real-world ECE contexts, ultimately providing a guide for applying the adaptive implementation strategy in ECE for WISE scale-up. Our work will also provide data to guide implementation decisions of other interventions in ECE. Finally, we will provide the first estimate of relative value for different implementation strategies in this setting. Trial registration: NCT05050539 ; 9/20/21.
... Hence, novel plant foods may incite an enormous fear reaction as they do not "look right" (Dovey et al., 2008). Repeated exposure and sensory education have been shown to effectively reduce preschool children's food neophobia (Anzman-Frasca et al., 2012;Hoppu et al., 2015). Improving cooking skills and using different cooking methods to introduce novel foods into the diet would also be desirable approaches (Spill et al., 2011). ...
Article
Objective This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of major food intake in toddlers with different severities of food neophobia and explore associations between food neophobia and the consumption of vegetables, fruit, snacks, and sugary sweetened beverages (SSBs). Method: This cross-sectional study included 747 toddler-caregiver dyads. Caregivers completed the questionnaire, which include the Child Food Neophobia Scale (CFNS), food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and questions regarding their toddlers’ food refusals and reasons for refusal. Results: The mean CFNS score of the toddlers was 21.49 ± 8.10, and the proportion of children with a high level of food neophobia was 27.4% in the overall sample. Children with high-level food neophobia consumed vegetables and fruits less frequently and thus had lower dietary diversity scores, while having a higher intake of snacks and SSBs. Leafy and flowering vegetables, meat and poultry, and cucurbitaceous vegetables were the top three rejected foods among high food neophobia toddlers. Such refusals might be due to the odor and taste, difficulty to chew, and texture of these foods. Conclusion: Early intervention is needed to address the high prevalence of food neophobia and thus improve Chinese children’s dietary quality.
... Repeated exposures to unfamiliar or previously rejected foods, even in small quantities, could influence preschoolaged children's liking and intake of these vegetables. 66,67 Current findings of children's excessive energy intake from solid fats and added sugar, combined with their low intake of vegetables and whole grains, emphasize the need to address barriers to healthy food access both in and out of child care, including the cost, limited selection and quality of nutrientdense foods, lack of culturally appropriate foods, lack of preparation time and skill, transportation barriers, and limited nutritional knowledge. [68][69][70] A healthy eating pattern that includes vegetables and whole grains and limits foods high in saturated fat and added sugar contributes to children's proper growth and development and can prevent the onset of negative health conditions, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. ...
Article
Background: Early child care (ECE) programs may substantially influence child diet quality. Objective: The Study of Nutrition and Activity in Child Care Settings (SNACS) describes the usual food group intake of preschool-age children attending ECE programs relative to Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommendations, comparing intakes on child and non-child care days. Design: Meal observations and parent-completed food diaries in a cross-sectional nationally representative multi-stage cluster sample of Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)-participating ECE programs. Participants/setting: 1,468 children ages 3 to 5 years attending 217 CACFP-participating ECE programs (child care centers, Head Start) in 2017. Main outcome measures: Daily energy intake, daily USDA Food Pattern Food Group intakes, and percentage of daily intakes meeting 2015-2020 DGA Food Pattern recommendations. Statistical analyses performed: Regression-adjusted usual intakes and percentage of children meeting recommendations were estimated using the National Cancer Institute method. Single-day mean intakes were used to test for statistical differences between child care and non-child care days. Results: Mean usual energy intake was 1,524 kcal±19.3 on child care days and exceeded the recommended range at 1,702 kcal±30.2 on non-child care days; single-day means indicated significantly lower energy intake on child care days (p<0.001). The percent of children meeting DGA recommendations on a child care day varied by DGA food group: fruits (51.4%), grains (50.1%), dairy (42.5%), vegetables (6.5%), whole grains (4.6%), and protein foods (0.1%). Recommended limits on calories from added sugar and solid fats were met by 28.2% and 14.6% of children, respectively. Compared to mean food group intakes on a single child care day, non-child care day intakes were similar for fruits and vegetables, lower for dairy and whole grains, and higher for total grains, protein foods, and calories from added sugars and solid fats. Conclusions: While there is room to increase nutrient density inside and outside of child care, intakes on child care days more closely align to DGAs.
... These findings were not surprising given that food neophobia, or the reluctance to eat new foods, reaches a peak during the preschool years and decreases as children age (Doveyet al., 2008). Previous research demonstrates that children need to be exposed to a new or previously disliked food eight to ten times to increase consumption of the food (Anzman-Frasca et al., 2012). ...
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Background A large portion of preschool-aged children in the United States (US) do not consume enough fruits and vegetables (FV). It is important for childcare providers to know what food choices children in their care are making at mealtime and how to encourage them to eat more FV. The objective of this pilot study was to examine the relationship between FV preference and plate waste among pre-school aged children in a childcare setting using a rapid assessment tool. Methods The rapid assessment tool was first pilot tested with 23 children and revised. A repeated cross-sectional design was carried out for three days during fall 2016 in one childcare center. Over three days, the research team collected 100 FV plate waste observations from 30 children who were surveyed simultaneously about their preference (did not try, tried, liked, loved) towards FV. Results Food preference for FV by preschool children is significantly (p < 0.05) related to plate waste and age. Children that indicated they loved a fruit or vegetable generated the least plate waste. Children that indicated that they did not try a fruit or vegetable generated the most plate waste. Conclusions FV preference and plate waste are significantly and inversely correlated. The rapid assessment tool developed should be validated to be used in implementing strategies that increase child preferences and consumption of FV that support lifelong healthy eating behaviors.
... During associative conditioning, children more readily accept a novel flavor or food when it is paired with a preferred flavor or food compared to when it is introduced alone. For example, experimental research illustrates infants exhibit greater acceptance of infant cereal prepared with breast milk compared to cereal prepared with water during the introduction of complementary foods and beverages [13], and older children are more willing to try vegetables when they are paired with a creamy dip compared to when they are offered alone [14]. Repeated exposure is defined as recurrent experiences with a flavor or food that make it more familiar; experimental research illustrates that 8 to 10 (or more) exposures may be required to increase children's preferences for novel foods [15,16], but that repeated exposure appears to be the most effective way to promote preferences [17]. ...
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Purpose of Review Efforts to promote children’s preferences for healthy foods hold much potential for improving diet quality and preventing obesity. The purpose of this review was to summarize recent evidence for associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation and child food preferences, dietary patterns, and weight outcomes. Recent Findings Recent research illustrates greater maternal vegetable intakes during pregnancy and lactation predict greater child preferences for and intakes of vegetables. Recent randomized clinical trials to improve maternal weight outcomes during the perinatal period via behavioral lifestyle interventions that included dietary components have yielded mixed findings for effects on child weight outcomes. Summary There is strong evidence that maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation shapes flavor preferences during infancy; more research is needed to understand factors that facilitate versus hinder the translation of these preferences to later dietary patterns and weight outcomes.
... Parental feeding strategies are strongly influential in how and what a child will eat. Several studies have shown that repeated exposure to a variety of foods in infancy will lead to a broader acceptability of foods during weaning and in later childhood (67,68) . Parental style of feeding is also influential on a child's development of feeding behaviour. ...
Article
Inadequate sleep and poor eating behaviours are associated with higher risk of childhood overweight and obesity. Less is known about the influence sleep has on eating behaviours and consequently body composition. Furthermore, whether associations differ in boys and girls has not been investigated extensively. We investigate associations between sleep, eating behaviours and body composition in cross sectional analysis of 5-year-old children. Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), abdominal circumference (AC) and skinfold measurements were obtained. Maternal reported information on child's eating behaviour and sleep habits were collected using validated questionnaires. Multiple linear regression examined associations between sleep, eating behaviours and body composition. Sleep duration was negatively associated with BMI, with 1-hour greater sleep duration associated with 0.24 kg/m2 (B=0.24, CI= -0.42, -0.03, p=0.026) lower BMI and 0.21cm lower (B=-0.21, CI= -0.41, -0.02, p=0.035) MUAC. When stratified by sex, girls showed stronger inverse associations between sleep duration (hrs) and BMI (kg/m2) (B=-0.32; CI= -0.60, -0.04, p= 0.024), MUAC (cm) (B=-0.29; CI= -0.58,0.000, p=0.05) and AC (cm) (B=-1.10; CI= -1.85, -0.21, p=0.014) than boys. Positive associations for 'Enjoys Food' and 'Food Responsiveness' with BMI, MUAC and AC were observed in girls only. Inverse associations between sleep duration and 'Emotional Undereating' and 'Food Fussiness' were observed in both sexes, although stronger in boys. Sleep duration did not mediate the relationship between eating behaviours and BMI. Further exploration is required to understand how sleep impacts eating behaviours and consequently body composition and how sex influences this relationship.
... Moreover, research has revealed that the opposite practice is also beneficial in stimulating the intake of healthy foods, i.e., when parents increase the portion sizes of healthy foods and enhance the diversity of healthy foods offered to children [66]. Experimental research has shown that parents can also promote children's food preferences for healthy foods (such as some vegetables) by means of rewards, facial expressions, and repeated exposures [67][68][69][70][71]. ...
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The goals of this study were to study relationships between maternal and children’s dietary patterns (DPs) and to assess how children’s DP was associated with child anthropometry. This cross-sectional study included 788 pairs of 6-year-old girls and mothers in health centers in Tehran, Iran. Information on dietary intake was collected with a 168-item food frequency questionnaire. Principal component factor analysis was performed to label different data-driven dietary patterns. Three different binary logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations between child’s DPs and child anthropometry. A positive correlation was found between all maternal patterns and child’s Western DP (p < 0.001). Maternal prudent and Western DPs were correlated with child’s high-protein DP (p < 0.001). Children’s high-protein DP was negatively correlated with maternal high fat DP (p < 0.001). Maternal prudent and high fat DPs were correlated with prudent DP in children (p < 0.001). In adjusted models, a child being in the highest compared to the first quartile of the high-protein DP was associated with decreased odds of underweight and wasting (OR 0.43; 95% CI 0.23–0.80).Conclusion: The present study showed inverse associations between a high-protein DP in children and being underweight and wasted. Also, a positive correlation was found between all maternal DPs and children’s Western DPs. This correlation should be taken into account while managing child nutrition by means of educating parents on the influence of their own dietary pattern on their children. Moreover, getting enough protein through a balanced diet should be considered in children. What is Known: • Some research exists on the intake of specific foods in relation to risk of abnormal growth in children. • Less is known about the relationship between mothers’ and children’s food intake. What is New: • Better adherence to a high-protein dietary pattern was significantly associated with lower risk of being both underweight and wasted. • This study suggests that correlation between mothers’ and their children’s dietary patterns exists, which should be taken into consideration when managing child nutrition.
... For FFL, there is concern that vegetable liking may not transfer to the unmodified vegetable [67]. Using dips instead of manipulating the sweetness or saltiness of a vegetable can increase WTT during first exposures compared to RE [4] and also increase intake of bitter vegetables for bitter sensitive children [60]. Similarly, when combining FFL and FNL, such as presenting Brussels sprouts with sweetened and unsweetened cream cheese, liking and consumption of vegetables increased above that of RE alone [22]. ...
Article
Children eat too few vegetables and this is attributed to disliked flavours and texture as well as low energy density. Vegetables confer selective health benefits over other foods and so children are encouraged to eat them. Parents and caregivers face a challenge in incorporating vegetables into their child's habitual diet. However, liking and intake may be increased through different forms of learning. Children learn about vegetables across development from exposure to some vegetable flavours in utero, through breastmilk, complementary feeding and transitioning to family diets. Infants aged between 5-7m are most amenable to accepting vegetables. However, a range of biological, social, environmental and individual factors may act independently and in tandem to reduce the appeal of eating vegetables. By applying aspects of learning theory, including social learning, liking and intake of vegetables can be increased. We propose taking an integrated and individualised approach to child feeding in order to achieve optimal learning in the early years. Simple techniques such as repeated exposure, modelling, social praise and creating social norms for eating vegetables can contribute to positive feeding experiences which in turn, contributes to increased acceptance of vegetables. However, there is a mismatch between experimental studies and the ways that children eat vegetables in real world settings. Therefore, current knowledge of the best strategies to increase vegetable liking and intake gained from experimental studies must be adapted and integrated for application to home and care settings, while responding to individual differences.
... A small, randomized trial with infants showed that a music enrichment program increased music reinforcement and reduced the RRV of food (Kong et al., 2016), suggesting that frequent exposure to a pleasurable non-food alternative has the potential to reduce food reinforcement. Repeated exposure of small tastes of vegetables increases liking and intake of those vegetables (Anzman-Frasca et al., 2012); however, research has not tested whether repeated exposure of healthier foods can sensitize, or increase, their reinforcing value among children. Repeated consumption of a food over a period of days or weeks can lead to a decline in the pleasantness of that food (i.e., monotony) (Hetherington et al., 2002). ...
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The relative reinforcing value (RRV) of food measures how hard someone will work for a high-energy-dense (HED) food when an alternative reward is concurrently available. Higher RRV for HED food has been linked to obesity, yet this association has not been examined in low-income preschool-age children. Further, the development of individual differences in the RRV of food in early childhood is poorly understood. This cross-sectional study tested the hypothesis that the RRV of HED (cookies) to low-energy-dense (LED; fruit) food would be greater in children with obesity compared to children without obesity in a sample of 130 low-income 3- to 5-year-olds enrolled in Head Start classrooms in Central Pennsylvania. In addition, we examined individual differences in the RRV of food by child characteristics (i.e., age, sex, and reward sensitivity) and food security status. The RRV of food was measured on concurrent progressive-ratio schedules of reinforcement. RRV outcomes included the last schedule reached (breakpoint) for cookies (cookie Pmax) and fruit (fruit Pmax), the breakpoint for cookies in proportion to the total breakpoint for cookies and fruit combined (RRV cookie), and response rates (responses per minute). Parents completed the 18-item food security module to assess household food security status and the Behavioral Activation System scale to assess reward sensitivity. Pearson’s correlations and mixed models assessed associations between continuous and discrete child characteristics with RRV outcomes, respectively. Two-way mixed effects interaction models examined age and sex as moderators of the association between RRV and Body Mass Index z-scores (BMIZ). Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. Children with obesity (17%) had a greater cookie Pmax [F (1, 121) = 4.95, p = 0.03], higher RRV cookie [F (1, 121) = 4.28, p = 0.04], and responded at a faster rate for cookies [F (1, 121) = 17.27, p < 0.001] compared to children without obesity. Children with higher cookie response rates had higher BMIZ (r = 0.26, p < 0.01); and RRV cookie was positively associated with BMIZ for older children (5-year-olds: t = 2.40, p = 0.02) and boys (t = 2.55, p = 0.01), but not younger children or girls. The RRV of food did not differ by household food security status. Low-income children with obesity showed greater motivation to work for cookies than fruit compared to their peers without obesity. The RRV of HED food may be an important contributor to increased weight status in boys and future research is needed to better understand developmental trajectories of the RRV of food across childhood.
Article
Objective To assess alignment of food and drinks served to New Zealand (NZ) children in early learning services (ELS) with the Health NZ (formerly known as Ministry of Health) Healthy Food and Drink (HFD) and Reducing Food Related Choking (choking) guidance. Methods Menus (271) collected remotely from 148 ELS from November 2020–March 2021 were analysed for their nutritional quality based on a ‘traffic light’ classification of ‘green’ (most nutritious), ‘amber’ (moderately nutritious) and ‘red’ (least nutritious) based on the guidance. Results Overall, 2.6% of menus met the guidance, and alignment was greater for menus for over 2‐year‐olds (over‐2s) than under 2‐year‐olds (under‐2s; p < 0.01). One‐fifth (18.5%) of menus met the choking guidance. Services with a Healthy Heart Award (HHA) from the Heart Foundation provided more ‘green’ items to over‐2s ( p = 0.039) and under‐2s ( p = 0.01), and less ‘red’ items to over‐2s ( p = 0.04). Providing more green menu items was inversely correlated with providing less high choking risk foods ( p < 0.01). Menu scores did not vary by service location, neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation or type (services operating independently versus those part of an education group chain). Conclusions Alignment with Health NZ nutritional guidance is low, particularly in ELS caring for very young children (under‐2s). Service characteristics, except for HHA status, are a poor predictor of nutritional quality of menus at ELS. So What Greater uptake of the HHA scheme could assist ELS to provide healthier food and drinks. Early learning services need further support from the public health sector to implement national nutritional guidelines.
Article
Early childhood is a key opportunity to establish healthy eating behaviors and prevent future non‐communicable diseases associated with poor diets. How to effectively intervene in the system of the many determinants influencing children's dietary intake remains unclear. This scoping review aimed to map the determinants of nutrition and eating that have been addressed in early childhood nutrition interventions and identify which of these improve dietary intake. We searched six electronic databases to identify eligible studies published from January 2000 to January 2024. We included studies of any interventions reporting dietary intake among children aged between two and five years. A total of 193 eligible studies were identified and mapped to the Determinants of Nutrition and Eating (DONE) Framework. Parent ( n = 97) and child ( n = 76) food knowledge and skills were most frequently addressed. Most studies addressing parent (67%) and child (66%) food knowledge and skills reported improvements in dietary intake. Government regulations such as healthy food subsidies, and food advertising and labeling interventions showed promised, with 82% of studies reporting improvements in dietary intake. However, these interventions were predominantly implemented in the United States and Chile. This review provides a comprehensive and systematic map of a range of interventions that positively influence nutritional outcomes in preschool‐aged children but recommends further policy‐level action globally.
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Large amounts of money, time and effort are devoted to sensory and consumer research in food and beverage companies in an attempt to maximize the chances of new products succeeding in the marketplace. Many new products fail due to lack of consumer interest. Answers to what causes this and what can be done about it are complex and remain unclear. This wide-ranging reference collates important information about all aspects of this in one volume for the first time. It provides comprehensive, state-of-art coverage of essential concepts, methods and applications related to the study of consumer evaluation, acceptance and adoption of new foods and beverages. Combining knowledge and expertise from multiple disciplines that study food sensory evaluation and consumer behaviour, it covers advanced methods including analytical, instrumental and human characterization of flavour, aspects of food processing and special research applications of knowledge and methods related to consumers’ evaluation of new food products. Researchers and professionals working in food science and chemistry are sure to find this an interesting read.
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Abstract The study was conducted to analyze the contribution of home garden vegetables in reducing stunting among 6‐ to 23‐month‐old children from South Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. The quasi‐experimental study design was used. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the districts and study communities. A total of 94 purposively selected vegetable producer (intervention) households and 260 randomly selected non‐producer (control) households were included in the study (1:3 ratio). The recumbent length of children was measured using horizontal wooden board to the nearest 0.1 cm. The length‐for‐age Z‐scores were computed using WHO‐Anthro 2006 software. Propensity score‐matching and difference‐in‐difference (DID) estimates were used to analyze data using STATA software version 12. Prevalence of child stunting was 19.8 (12.7–29.4) and 21.1 (16.4–26.7)% (baseline) and 43.5 (33.5–54.1) and 46.5 (45.7–47.2)% (end line) among intervention and control groups, respectively. Child stunting was higher for boys and older children from both intervention and control households. DID estimation revealed that there was no significant difference in child stunting between intervention and control households (DID = 1.7, p = .604). However, there was an intervention effect of −0.5, 2.5, and 1.7% in the prevalence of child stunting among females, males, and both sexes, respectively. Vegetable production as an intervention strategy reduced the prevalence of stunting in children aged 6–23 months. However, vegetable production needs to be well integrated with other nutrition‐sensitive interventions to realize the objective of reducing child stunting.
Article
The aim of this study was to determine how repeated-exposure of an unfamiliar-vegetable affects food-intake and food-liking in the food-neophobic-tendency-children. A total of 848 children (9–11years-old) participated in this study. The experimental part of the study was carried out with a randomly-selected subsample of 28-students among the students who were considered as having food-neophobic-tendencies. These students consumed celery 8-times with an interval of 2 days. A 5-Point-Likert-Scale was used to assess students’ liking of celery during each trial. There was a significant effect of exposure shown by significant increases in intake and liking among neophobic-tendency-children (p < .001). In summary, repeated taste-exposure is confirmed to be a good strategy to increase vegetable-acceptance, liking in children, regardless of food-neophobia tendency.
Article
Children learn to accept novel foods by repeated exposure to these foods. In the current study, we investigated in toddlers whether a contingency management program (The Vegetable Box), comprising repeated vegetable taste exposure with contingent non-food rewards, is particularly potent at increasing recognition of and willingness to try vegetables. A total of 598 children (1-4 years old) recruited at 26 different day-care centres in the Netherlands took part. The day-care centres were randomly assigned to one of three conditions ('exposure/reward', 'exposure/no-reward', or 'no-exposure/no-reward'). At the start and directly after the 3-month intervention period, all children were asked to identify various vegetables (recognition test; max score = 14) and whether they would like to taste and consume 1 or 2 bite-size pieces of tomato, cucumber, carrot, bell pepper, radish, and cauliflower (willingness to try test). Data were analysed with linear mixed-effects regression analyses (for recognition and willingness to try separately) with condition and time as independent variables, and adjusting for day-care centre clustering. Vegetable recognition significantly increased in both the 'exposure/reward' and the 'exposure/no-reward' group, relative to the 'no-exposure/no-reward' control group. The willingness to try vegetables only increased significantly in the 'exposure/reward' group. Offering vegetables to children at day-care centres significantly increased toddlers' ability to identify various vegetables, but rewards contingent upon tasting vegetables appear particularly effective to also increase children's willingness to try (i.e., taste and consume) different vegetables. This result corroborates and strengthens previous findings demonstrating the efficacy of similar reward-based programs.
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Background: The eating habits of Generation Z have changed a lot compared to other Generations. It is presumed that influencers significantly influence the choice of diet among Generation Z. This study aimed to investigate Generation Z's opinion about social networks and the influence of communication channels, mostly influencers, on the choice of diet. Subjects and methods: This study included 178 participants born between 1997-2010. It was conducted using the Google forms questionnaire program. Participants were initially asked demographic questions such as age, gender, and physical activity. These were followed by questions about their eating habits, social networks, and influencers. After the survey, the results were analyzed using TIBCO Statistica™ 14.0.0. Results: Out of 178 participants, 59% were female, and 41% were male. Most respondents (60.6%) declared that they eat healthily, and among several options to choose from, most respondents chose options related to a healthy diet. Respondents who care about healthy food often seek information from influencers on social networks. Respondents who declared that they eat healthy most often believe that influencers are a credible source of information (p=0.019) and follow influencers for motivation (p=0.022) and for the information they share (p=0.009). Respondents who declared that they pay attention to calorie intake more often believe that influencers are a credible source of information (p=0.011). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that influencers greatly influence the eating habits of Generation Z and that they are aware of healthy eating habits. Also, those who take care of healthy eating, follow influencers.
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Young children’s eating practices and mealtimes within early childhood education and care have attracted considerable attention over the past 30 years, with an increasing focus on nutrition and family-style meals. Research in this field is typically conducted in parallel strands that would benefit from an overview perspective and critical discussion. This article addresses that need, reviewing international research from 166 empirical papers published between January 1990 to December 2020. A scoping literature review was used to inductively identify three core areas of research: i) factors influencing children’s eating practices, ii) teacher’s and children’s perspectives on mealtimes, and iii) situated meal practices. Key trends included a focus on repeated exposure, modeling behavior, teachers’ feeding practices, rules and norms vs. playfulness, and participation in the meal as event. Future research could work across disciplinary boundaries and combine a focus on nutritional concerns with an examination of the multimodal interaction within the mealtimes.
Article
Healthy food subsidies made some food purchases temporarily healthier, but the effect was not always persistent.
Chapter
People are born with few specific food preferences. Most preferences are acquired with experience. One type of such learning concerns Pavlovian conditioning in which a flavor becomes better liked through its association with an already liked taste, nutritive outcome, or another positive postingestive effect. Pavlovian conditioning also underlies the experience of food craving, an intense desire for a certain food item. Food craving is elicited by cues predicting the intake of a particularly palatable food. Pavlovian food cues thus motivate instrumental food seeking and intake. Research demonstrates that increased liking and preference for healthier foods can be conditioned by pairing a healthy flavor with a positive outcome (Pavlovian conditioning) and by pairing the consumption of healthy foods with a rewarding outcome (instrumental conditioning). Healthier food preferences can also be acquired vicariously by learning from observing trusted others. Both direct and indirect experiences with certain foods thus importantly contribute to the acquisition of food preferences.
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A complex interaction of skills and behaviors, across developmental domains, underlie an infant’s ability to transition from a liquid diet to more complex texture and flavors with family foods. Eating requires coordination of skills (motor, cognitive, and sensory) that progress among healthy infants and young children within a window of time, yet variations in typical age ranges of skill acquisition are commonly reported. This narrative review provides a summary of developmental processes related to newborn feeding, through the introduction of complementary feeding, to the transition of child self-feeding. Factors influencing developmental domains are identified and strategies to assist parents and healthcare professionals in teaching children the skills for eating a variety of healthy and developmentally appropriate foods are provided.
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This chapter explores infant feeding during the introduction of complementary foods and beverages and transition to solid foods. This chapter discusses how responsive feeding during this developmental stage can promote infants’ preferences for healthy foods and development of eating behaviors that support effective self-regulation of intake. In particular, novel implications of infants' increased motor skills and autonomy are examined within the context of responsive feeding, and best practices for promoting infants' preferences for healthy foods will be outlined. The concepts of the Division of Responsibility During Feeding and Baby-Led Weaning are introduced as effective conceptualizations of the principles of responsive feeding during this developmental period. This chapter concludes with recommended action items for promoting responsive feeding during the transition to solid foods.
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Background: Poor dietary habits in childhood can lead to obesity and chronic diseases later in life. Increasing children's nutrition knowledge and liking of fruits and vegetables are key factors in improving diet quality. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a nutrition program on knowledge, liking and intake of fruits and vegetables in Montessori students. Methods: Clustered-randomized control trial conducted in a Southeastern US Montessori school. Children aged 4-6 years old (intervention, n = 22; control, n = 29) participated in a 4-week nutrition education with taste testing of 12 fruits and vegetables. Nutrition knowledge, fruit and vegetable liking, and intake were measured with questionnaires, and analyzed using repeated measures analysis of covariance and descriptive analyses (SPSS v.23); significance defined as p < 0.05. Results: Controlling for covariates, significant between group effects for nutrition knowledge (F = 24.16, p < 0.001) and liking tomatoes (F = 7.01, p = 0.01) were found. The intervention group increased vegetable intake (Hedges' g = 1.01) compared to the control, although it was not significant between groups (F = 1.95, p = 0.17). Conclusions: Initial examination of this program indicates that it was effective in increasing knowledge, vegetable liking and intake for young children in the sample. More research is needed to compare outcomes between educational delivery methods.
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Dr Leann Birch was a pioneer in conducting research on infant and child eating behaviour. At the beginning of her research career, Leann recognised a significant gap in the developmental psychology literature, namely that few studies had been conducted to understand infant eating and feeding behaviours. This seems an unusual omission given that food intake is essential and that developmental milestones from milk to solids, and from being fed to becoming an autonomous eater, are obvious to most caregivers. Leann paved the way for interdisciplinary research from psychology, paediatrics and public health to explore and apply this knowledge to infant and child appetite, eating behaviour, dietary patterns, food preferences, and obesity risk. Early studies in her laboratory demonstrated that children form food preferences through experience and socialisation. Experiments published in 1979 tested the role of familiarisation through repeat exposure, and the impact of instrumental and social learning on the acquisition of food preferences. In 1984, a presentation given to the British Feeding and Drinking Group (BFDG) in Brighton set out three organising principles for understanding how children acquire food preferences: genetically pre-programmed behavioural propensities; social constraints on experience with food; and social transmission resulting from direct social interaction. Building on these three organising principles, research on child eating behaviour has flourished, including the intersection between individual differences, food experience and environmental influences on children's food preferences, energy regulation, and weight outcomes. In this review, the initial groundwork set out by Leann Birch on food preference development in children is considered followed by a discussion of how this has since inspired an interdisciplinary, international and expanding field of research on children's food intake, appetite and body weight regulation.
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Dairy product consumption is motivated by both familiarity and habit. Milk consumption decreases with age, but milk consumption during childhood and adolescence increases the chances of lifetime milk consumption. Understanding how parents perceive dairy milk and other dairy foods further enables development of dairy-positive messaging that aligns with their perceptions. The objective of this research was to understand parent belief systems around fluid dairy milk and plant-based alternatives (PBA). This goal was accomplished by assessing parents' implicit attitudes toward dairy milk and PBA with an implicit bias exercise (n = 331), followed by qualitative interviews to understand explicitly stated purchase motivations and guided recall of information heard about dairy milk and PBA to better understand external influences on milk perception (n = 88). The majority of parents (73.4%) implicitly associated dairy milk with positive attributes compared with those with a positive association with PBA (13.8%) or with a neutral bias (12.7%). The stronger a parent's implicit bias toward PBA, the more likely they were to purchase these products either alongside or as a replacement for dairy milk. Eighty-five percent of parents in our study could recall drinking milk at home as a child, and 58% remembered encouragement from their parents to drink milk. However, only 38% encouraged their own children to drink milk (the majority, 55%, were neutral toward their children's milk consumption). Generally negative media messaging toward dairy milk and positive messaging toward PBA may contribute to this trend, even if consumers are not explicitly aware of their perception changes. Seventy-seven percent of parents felt generally confident in choosing dairy milk or PBA for their children. However, only 26% of parents felt that nothing about dairy milk or PBA information or messaging was confusing. Sources of uncertainty about dairy milk included hormones and antibiotics, animal welfare, ecological sustainability, potential contamination, and intolerances or allergies. By addressing the most commonly encountered and recalled concerns about milk from parents, dairy producers may be able to increase trust and implicit bias toward dairy milk compared with PBA.
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Despite a rich knowledge base about infants’ social learning and studies observing social referencing in other species in food contexts, we know surprisingly little about social learning about food among human infants. This gap in the literature is particularly surprising considering that feeding unfamiliar foods to infants is a very common experience as infants begin to eat solid foods. The present study examines whether parental social modeling influences infants’ willingness to accept unfamiliar foods. In two Zoom sessions, parents will be asked to feed unfamiliar foods to their 6- to 24-month-old infants (different unfamiliar foods in each session). In both sessions, infants’ food acceptance and rejection will be measured. In the first session, parents will be asked to do what they would typically do; spontaneous social modeling will be recorded. In the second session, parents will be instructed to model eating the unfamiliar food. We will examine associations between infants’ willingness to eat unfamiliar foods, parent social modeling, and extant parent and infant characteristics.
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Adoption of healthy dietary and snacking habits could support optimum physical and mental development in children as they define health in adulthood. This study assessed parameters associated with children’s snacking such as food home availability, parenting practices, and parents’ health beliefs. In this cross-sectional study 12, 039 children, 49.4% boys 5-12 years old, participating in the European Feel4Diabetes-Study were included. Children’s weekly consumption of sweets and salty snacks, home availability of snacks, food parenting practices, and health beliefs were assessed via questionnaires. Logistic regression was applied to explore associations of a) home availability of snacks, b) food parenting practices (permissiveness and rewarding with snacks) and c) parent’s opinions on deterministic health beliefs with children’s consumption of sweets and salty snacks. Results showed that home availability (sweets: OR adj 4.76, 95%CI: 4.32, 5.23; salty snacks: OR adj : 6.56, 95%CI: 5.64, 7.61), allowing to consume (sweets: OR adj : 3.29, 95%CI: 2.95, 3.67; salty snacks: OR adj : 3.41, 95%CI: 2.98, 3.90) and rewarding with sweets/salty snacks (sweets: OR adj : 2.69, 95%CI: 2.23, 3.24; salty snacks: OR adj : 4.34, 95%CI: 3.57, 5.28) ‘sometimes/or less frequently’ compared to ‘always/or often’ were associated with lower weekly consumption of sweets and snacks. Parents’ disagreement compared to agreement with deterministic health beliefs and inattentive eating were associated with lower consumption of salty snacks and sweets in children. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that attempts to promote healthy snacking habits in children should aim to improve parental dietary habits, food parenting practices, health beliefs, and reducing home availability of unhealthy foods and snacks.
Chapter
Das erste Lebensjahr gehört zu den wohl dynamischsten Entwicklungsphasen: Nach der Geburt muss sich das Kind rasch an die neuen Lebensbedingungen anpassen. Seine Atmung und sein Kreislauf bewältigen diese Umstellung innerhalb von wenigen Minuten. Verdauung, Stoffwechsel und Ausscheidung kommen langsam über Stunden und Tage in Gang. Der Säugling braucht schließlich einige Wochen und Monate, um seinen Schlaf-Wach-Rhythmus dem Tag-Nacht-Wechsel anzugleichen. Außerdem muss er sich im ersten Lebensjahr auch an die Schwerkraft und den Raum anpassen. Für diese komplexen Entwicklungsaufgaben im Bereich des körperlichen Wachstums, der Motorik, der Wahrnehmung sowie des Schlaf- und Ernährungsverhaltens benötigt das Neugeborene bzw. der Säugling die Unterstützung der engsten Bezugspersonen, die ihm den Einstieg in die Welt ermöglichen. Dieses Kapitel beschreibt diese Entwicklungsschritte im Detail und erklärt ebenso die frühe kognitive, sprachliche und soziale Entwicklung des Säuglings.
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Introduction Children with sensory food aversions (SFAs) are at risk for nutritional problems and occupational dysfunction during daily meals. To facilitate optimal occupational performance for children with SFAs, it is critical that clinicians understand child behaviour and caregiver strategy use to manage child behaviour during meals. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reliability of a novel coding scheme, the Behavioural Mealtime Coding System (BMCS) and identify associations among child acceptance of preferred and targeted foods, child food exploration and caregiver use of strategies to manage child behaviour. Methods Twenty‐one children (aged 18–60 months) with SFAs and their caregivers were recruited using a convenience sample. An observational video coding system was developed to code mealtime behaviour in 63 typical mealtime videos recorded by caregivers in the home environment. Inter‐rater reliability, descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were calculated. Results The BMCS demonstrated excellent inter‐rater reliability (ICC = .95). Child bites of targeted foods were associated with mealtime duration (rs = .51, p = .02) and events of the child licking food (rs = .57, p = .007). Caregiver use of threats was positively associated with child age (rs = .48, p = .03) and negatively associated with caregiver education level (rs = −.49, p = .03). Conclusion For children with SFAs, increasing mealtime duration by embedding positive activities to encourage food exploration may improve acceptance of healthy targeted foods. Future research is needed to better understand the complex relationships among caregiver strategy use, mealtime duration and child mealtime behaviour.
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A self-efficacy questionnaire for fruit and veget- able (F&V) consumption among fourth and fifth grade students was developed, pilot tested with 140 students from one school and field tested with 252 students from two schools. The ques- tionnaire included 34 items generated by invent- orying behaviors targeted for change in the F&V school curriculum. The four subscales derived from principal components analysis were labeled 'after-school F&V snacks'; 'break- fast and lunch F&V, and paying for F&V; 'independent shopping for F&V; and 'assisted shopping for F&V; they accounted for 43.8% of the total variance. Subscale test-re-test reliab- ilities and internal consistencies were acceptable. Criterion validities against F&V consumption from food records were low. Relationships were stronger with preferences and outcome expecta- tions. Results from stepwise regression analyses indicated that preferences were the only signi- ficant predictors of fruit and total F&V con- sumption, as well as the main predictor of vegetable consumption; however, the models accounted for less than 13% of the variance. Nutrition education programs which target preferences may be more effective in increasing
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How children acquire preferences for added sugar and salt was examined by investigating the effects of repeated exposure to 1 of 3 versions of a novel food (sweetened, salty, or plain tofu) on children's preference for those and other similar foods. Participants were 39 4- and 5-yr-olds assigned to taste only 1 of 3 flavored versions 15 times over several weeks. Preferences for all versions were obtained before, during, and after the exposure series. Preference increased for the exposed version only. Experience with 1 flavored version did not produce generalized liking for all 3 versions of the food. Experience with 1 version (flavored or plain) actually produced a decline in preference for the other version. This was true whether children had experience with plain or flavored versions of the food. The acquired preference was restricted to the particular food/flavor complex; through exposure, children seemed to learn whether it was appropriate to add salt or sugar to a particular food. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Social-cognitive theory (SCT) was used to explain the fruit and vegetable intake of 1,398 3rd graders. SCT variables assessed included self-efficacy, outcome expectations, preferences, social norms, asking skills, and knowledge. Fruit and vegetable intake was assessed with 7-day records. Bivariate correlations with fruit and vegetable intake ranged from .17 for asking skills to .29 for fruit and vegetable preferences. In analyses controlling for school-level clustering, only preferences and positive outcome expectations remained significantly associated with fruit and vegetable intake, accounting for approximately 10%–11% of the variance. Limitations in the conceptualization, scope, and measurement of the variables assessed may have contributed to the weak associations observed. Models incorporating factors other than individual-level social-cognitive variables may be required to more fully explain children's dietary behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Two experiments allowed rats to drink freely two neutral flavors (almond and vanilla) in simultaneous compound with two hedonically valued flavors (quinine and saccharin). The neutral flavor previously paired with saccharin was subsequently preferred. The neutral flavor that had been paired with quinine was subsequently avoided. Experiment 3 found similar results when the animals were hand-fed a preset amount of the solution. Preference shifts were not obtained when differential amounts of the neutral flavors were consumed in isolation. The data indicate that flavor-flavor associations can shift taste preferences.
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To describe current infant-feeding practices and current food group consumption patterns of infants and toddlers and to compare 2008 data with 2002 data to identify shifts in these practices and food consumption over time. The Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS) 2008 is a cross-sectional survey of a national random sample of US children from birth up to age 4 years. Data for three age subgroups (infants 4 to 5.9 months and 6 to 11.9 months and toddlers 12 to 23.9 months) were used from the 2002 (n=2,884) and 2008 surveys (n=1,596). All analyses use sample weights that reflect the US population aged 4 to 24 months. Descriptive statistics (means, proportions, and standard errors) and t tests were calculated using SUDAAN (release 9, 2005, Research Triangle Park Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC). These data show a higher percentage of infants receiving breast milk from 4 to 11.9 months of age with a concurrent decreasing percentage of infants receiving formula, which is significantly different from data for the 9- to 11.9-month-old age group. The use of complementary foods also appears to be delayed in FITS 2008: There is a significantly lower proportion of infants consuming infant cereal at 9 to 11.9 months in FITS 2008 compared to 2002 data. Fruit and vegetable consumption remains lower than desired. Significant reductions in the percentage of infants and toddlers consuming any desserts or candy, sweetened beverages, and salty snacks were seen in 2008. The findings presented here provide important insights to the content of messages and types of interventions that are still needed to improve the diets of infants and toddlers.
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Serving larger portions of low-energy-dense vegetables at a meal could have beneficial effects on children's food and energy intakes. We investigated whether increasing the portion size of vegetables served at the start of a meal leads to increased vegetable consumption and decreased meal energy intake in children. In a crossover design, 3- to 5-y-old children in a daycare center were served a test lunch once a week for 4 wk (n = 51). In 3 of the meals, a first course of raw carrots varied in portion size (30, 60, or 90 g), and no first course was served in the control meal. Children consumed the first course ad libitum over 10 min and then were served a main course of pasta, broccoli, applesauce, and milk, which was also consumed ad libitum. Total vegetable consumption at the meal increased as the portion size of carrots increased (P < 0.0001). Doubling the portion size of the first course increased carrot consumption by 47%, or 12 +/- 2 g (P < 0.0001). Tripling the portion size of carrots, however, did not lead to a further increase in intake (P = 0.61). Meal energy intake was not significantly affected by the amount of carrots served in the first course. The effect of portion size on intake was not significantly influenced by the children's age or body weight status. Increasing the portion size of a vegetable served as a first course can be an effective strategy for increasing vegetable consumption in preschool children.
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The energy density (ED) of an entrée affects children's energy intake at a meal consumed ad libitum. However, the effects in children of changing the ED of meals over multiple days are unknown. We aimed to test the effect of reducing the ED of multiple meals on the ad libitum energy intake of preschool-age children over 2 d. In this crossover study, 3- to 5-y-old children (n = 10 boys, 16 girls) were served manipulated breakfasts, lunches, and afternoon snacks 2 d/wk for 2 wk. Foods and beverages served at these meals during 1 wk were lower in ED than were those served during the other week. ED reductions were achieved by decreasing fat and sugar and by increasing fruit and vegetables. Dinner and an evening snack were sent home with children, but these meals did not vary in ED. The same 2-d menu was served in both conditions. Children consumed a consistent weight of foods and beverages over 2 d in both conditions, and therefore their energy consumption declined by 389 +/- 72 kcal (14%) in the lower-ED condition, a significant decrease (P < 0.0001). Differences in energy intake were significant at breakfast on day 1, and they accumulated at manipulated meals over 2 d (P < 0.01). Intake of the nonmanipulated meals was similar between conditions. Children's energy intake is influenced by the ED of foods and beverages served over multiple days. These results strengthen the evidence that reducing the ED of the diet is an effective strategy for moderating children's energy intake.
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In a study with 36 Sprague-Dawley pups it was found that Ss that experienced garlic flavor during 21 days of nursing (in mother's milk) and for a 5-day period after weaning drank considerably more garlic solution over 12 days of testing than did Ss nursed by water-imbibing mothers and weaned on water. Still other Ss that had garlic either during nursing or after weaning manifested intermediate garlic preferences over these same tests, though the initial intake of garlic was greater in the former condition. The durability of such preferences was demonstrated in a 2nd series of 6 daily tests given 1 mo later when the same ordering of groups recurred.
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Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is an important health behaviour. Parental and other psychosocial influences on children's fruit and vegetable consumption are poorly understood. The contribution of a variety of psychosocial and environmental factors to consumption of fruit and vegetables by children aged 9-11 years was explored. Ninety-two mothers and children (48 girls and 44 boys) were recruited via urban primary health-care practices. Socio-economic and educational level, nutritional knowledge and health- and diet-related beliefs and attitudes were assessed in mothers and children by questionnaires and semistructured interviews. Mothers> diets were measured by a food frequency questionnaire, while children's diets were assessed by 3-day diaries (N=80). The pattern of influence of the various measures on fruit and vegetable consumption was compared with that on children's confectionery intake. The children's intakes of macronutrients were typical for the U.K. (37% fat, 50% carbohydrate and 13% protein by energy; 12 g/day fibre), while median fruit, fruit juice and vegetable intake amounted to about 2.5 servings/day. Univariate correlations and subsequent multiple regression analyses revealed quite different influences on the three food types. Independent predictors of children's fruit intake included mothers> nutritional knowledge (beta=0.37), mothers> frequency of fruit consumption (beta=0.30) and mothers> attitudinal conviction that increasing fruit and vegetable consumption by their children could reduce their risk of developing cancer (beta=0.27; multiple r2=0.37,p<0.0001). Children's vegetable consumption was independently explained by the child's liking for commonly eaten vegetables (beta=0.36) and the mother's belief in the importance of disease prevention when choosing her child's food (beta=-0.27 r2=0.20,p<0.001). Children's confectionery consumption was predicted by the mother's liking for confectionery (beta=0.32) and the children's concern for health in choosing what to eat (beta=-0.26 r2=0.16, p<0.005). Children's consumption of fruit and vegetables are related to different psychosocial and environmental factors. Promotion of this behaviour may require attention to nutritional education and child feeding strategies of parents.
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This report presents the revised growth charts for the United States. It summarizes the history of the 1977 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth charts, reasons for the revision, data sources and statistical procedures used, and major features of the revised charts. Data from five national health examination surveys collected from 1963 to 1994 and five supplementary data sources were combined to establish an analytic growth chart data set. A variety of statistical procedures were used to produce smoothed percentile curves for infants (from birth to 36 months) and older children (from 2 to 20 years), using a two-stage approach. Initial curve smoothing for selected major percentiles was accomplished with various parametric and nonparametric procedures. In the second stage, a normalization procedure was used to generate z-scores that closely match the smoothed percentile curves. The 14 NCHS growth charts were revised and new body mass index-for-age (BMI-for-age) charts were created for boys and girls (http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts). The growth percentile curves for infants and children are based primarily on national survey data. Use of national data ensures a smooth transition from the charts for infants to those for older children. These data better represent the racial/ethnic diversity and the size and growth patterns of combined breast- and formula-fed infants in the United States. New features include addition of the 3rd and 97th percentiles for all charts and extension of all charts for children and adolescents to age 20 years. Created with improved data and statistical curve smoothing procedures, the United States growth charts represent an enhanced instrument to evaluate the size and growth of infants and children.
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Flavors from the mother's diet during pregnancy are transmitted to amniotic fluid and swallowed by the fetus. Consequently, the types of food eaten by women during pregnancy and, hence, the flavor principles of their culture may be experienced by the infants before their first exposure to solid foods. Some of these same flavors will later be experienced by infants in breast milk, a liquid that, like amniotic fluid, comprises flavors that directly reflect the foods, spices, and beverages eaten by the mother. The present study tested the hypothesis that experience with a flavor in amniotic fluid or breast milk modifies the infants' acceptance and enjoyment of similarly flavored foods at weaning. Pregnant women who planned on breastfeeding their infants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups. The women consumed either 300 mL of carrot juice or water for 4 days per week for 3 consecutive weeks during the last trimester of pregnancy and then again during the first 2 months of lactation. The mothers in 1 group drank carrot juice during pregnancy and water during lactation; mothers in a second group drank water during pregnancy and carrot juice during lactation, whereas those in the control group drank water during both pregnancy and lactation. Approximately 4 weeks after the mothers began complementing their infants' diet with cereal and before the infants had ever been fed foods or juices containing the flavor of carrots, the infants were videotaped as they fed, in counterbalanced order, cereal prepared with water during 1 test session and cereal prepared with carrot juice during another. Immediately after each session, the mothers rated their infants' enjoyment of the food on a 9-point scale. The results demonstrated that the infants who had exposure to the flavor of carrots in either amniotic fluid or breast milk behaved differently in response to that flavor in a food base than did nonexposed control infants. Specifically, previously exposed infants exhibited fewer negative facial expressions while feeding the carrot-flavored cereal compared with the plain cereal, whereas control infants whose mothers drank water during pregnancy and lactation exhibited no such difference. Moreover, those infants who were exposed to carrots prenatally were perceived by their mothers as enjoying the carrot-flavored cereal more compared with the plain cereal. Although these same tendencies were observed for the amount of cereal consumed and the length of the feeds, these findings were not statistically significant. Prenatal and early postnatal exposure to a flavor enhanced the infants' enjoyment of that flavor in solid foods during weaning. These very early flavor experiences may provide the foundation for cultural and ethnic differences in cuisine.
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The present research was initiated to examine the prevalence of forced consumption and its role in subsequent food rejection. A forced consumption episode was defined as a situation where Person(s) A forced or demanded Person B to consume a specific substance against Person B's will. An initial survey of 407 college students revealed that over 69% of them had experienced at least one forced consumption episode. One hundred forty individuals completed a follow-up questionnaire exploring various characteristics of their most memorable forced consumption scenario. Specifically, the most common type of forced consumption (76%) involved an authority figure (e.g. parent, teacher) forcing a child to consume a novel, disliked, or aversive food. In this authority figure scenario, respondents recalled the episode as involving interpersonal conflict and negative affect, and identified the most aversive aspects of this scenario as lack of control and feelings of helplessness. Furthermore, most respondents (72%) reported that they would not willingly eat the target food today. In sum, the forced consumption episode appears to be a unique situation in which distasteful food combines with interpersonal conflict to result in long-lasting food rejection.
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Background Food group intakes by US children are below recommendations and micronutrient inadequacies have been reported. There are few longitudinal data that focus on developmental changes in food and nutrient intake from early to middle childhood. We examined changes in nutrient and food group intakes over time and the tracking of intakes across middle childhood in a longitudinal sample of girls. Methods Three multiple-pass 24-hour diet recalls were conducted in a sample of 181 non-Hispanic White girls at ages 5, 7, and 9 years. Food and nutrient data were averaged across 3 days. Analyses of time effects were conducted using repeated measures analysis of variance and tracking of intakes was assessed via rank analysis. Results We found significant decreases in nutrient densities (intakes per 1000 kcal) of vitamins C and D, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc at age 9. Girls maintained their relative quartile positions for these micronutrients from ages 5–9. Analysis of food group data showed similar trends. At age 9, significantly fewer girls were meeting the recommendations for dairy, fruit and vegetable servings than at age 5 and girls also tended to remain in their respective quartiles over time, especially for fruit and dairy intakes. Conclusions These results highlight the importance of developing healthy eating practices during early childhood when caretakers have considerable control over children's food intake.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate two interventions (one reward-based and one exposure-based) for increasing children's acceptance of an unfamiliar vegetable compared with a no-treatment control. It was predicted that the exposure condition would increase liking for, and consumption of, the vegetable relative to either the reward or control group. Using a randomized controlled design, participants were assigned to one of two intervention groups (exposure or reward) or to a no-treatment control condition, for a 2 week period. Liking for, and consumption of, red pepper was assessed before and after the treatment period. The study was conducted in three primary schools in London. Parental consent was obtained for 49 out of a possible 72 children. Interventions comprised eight daily sessions during which participants in the exposure group were offered a taste of sweet red pepper and told that they could eat as much as they liked. Participants in the reward group were shown a sheet of cartoon stickers and told that they could choose one of them on condition that they ate at least one piece of the pepper. The exposure-based intervention significantly increased both liking (P=0.006) and consumption (P=0.03) compared with the control group. The outcome of the reward intervention was intermediate and did not differ significantly from the exposure or control conditions. Repeated exposure to the taste of unfamiliar foods is a promising strategy for promoting liking of previously rejected foods in children.
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In a series of four assessments, 37 preschool children indicated their liking for a set of fruits by rank ordering the items. Using multidimensional scaling techniques, the salient dimensions underlying the children's preferences were found to be familiarity and sweetness. Assessment II was a replication designed to determine the stability of preferences. The children's preferences were quite stable; the correlation of preference orders of Assessments I and II was. 58. To determine the reliability of the dimensions obtained, new fruits were added to the set in Assessment III. The same dimensions emerged, and the relative placement of the new fruits on each dimension was as predicated. When the data for 3- and 4-year-olds were analyzed separately for Assessments I, II, and III, familiarity accounted for the greatest proportion of the variance in the preferences of 3-year-olds, while sweetness was most salient for 4-year-olds. In an initial attempt to modify preferences, it was found that repeated exposure to one fruit led to increased familiarity but not to an increase in preference for that fruit. The research demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining preference data directly from young children.
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The generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach of Zeger and Liang facilitates analysis of data collected in longitudinal, nested, or repeated measures designs. GEEs use the generalized linear model to estimate more efficient and unbiased regression parameters relative to ordinary least squares regression in part because they permit specification of a working correlation matrix that accounts for the form of within-subject correlation of responses on dependent variables of many different distributions, including normal, binomial, and Poisson. The author briefly explains the theory behind GEEs and their beneficial statistical properties and limitations and compares GEEs to suboptimal approaches for analyzing longitudinal data through use of two examples. The first demonstration applies GEEs to the analysis of data from a longitudinal lab study with a counted response variable; the second demonstration applies GEEs to analysis of data with a normally distributed response variable from subjects nested within branch offices ofan organization.
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The effects of several social-affective presentation contexts on the formation of preschool children's food preferences were investigated. The children's preferences for a set of snack foods were initially assessed and a neutral food, neither highly preferred nor nonpreferred, was selected for each child. This snack food was then presented to the child in one of four social-affective contexts: (1) as a reward; (2) noncontingently, paired with adult attention; (3) in a nonsocial context; (4) at snack time. 16 children participated in each condition. Half of the children in each condition received a sweet snack food, half a nonsweet snack food. Results indicated that presenting foods as rewards or presenting them noncontingently paired with adult attention produced significant increases in preference, and the effects persisted for at least 6 weeks following termination of the presentations. In contrast, no consistent changes in preference were noted when the foods were presented in a nonsocial context or at snack time. The results suggest that the social-affective context in which foods are presented is extremely important in the formation of young children's food preferences.
Article
To assess the relationship between stated preferences and consumption patterns for preschool children, measures of preference and consumption were obtained independently from 17 nursery school children during snack period on four consecutive days. Snacks were eight different kinds of small open-faced sandwiches. Children indicated their preferences by rank ordering the sandwiches from most to least preferred. The correlation between preference and consumption was considerably higher than the relationship reported in studies using adult subjects. Multidimensional scaling analysis of the preference data produced two salient dimensions in the children's preferences. The first dimension, familiarity, accounted for 51% of the variance in the data. The second dimension (23%) separated sandwiches with sweet spreads from those with nonsweet ones.
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Evidence-based strategies for promoting vegetable consumption among children are limited. To determine the effects of providing a palatable “dip” along with repeated exposure to a raw vegetable on preschoolers' liking and intake. One hundred fifty-two predominately Hispanic preschool-aged children studied in Head Start classrooms in 2008. A between-subjects, quasiexperimental design was used. A moderately-liked raw vegetable (broccoli) was offered twice weekly at afternoon snacks for 7 weeks. Classrooms were randomized to receive broccoli in one of four conditions differing in the provision of dip. Bitter taste sensitivity was assessed using 6-n-propylthiouracil. Broccoli was provided in four conditions: with regular salad dressing as a dip, with a light (reduced energy/fat) version of the dressing as a dip, mixed with the regular dressing as a sauce, or plain (without dressing). Mean broccoli intake during 7 weeks of exposure and broccoli liking following exposure. Descriptive statistics were generated. Multilevel models for repeated measures tested effects of condition and bitter sensitivity on mean broccoli intake during exposure and on pre- and post-exposure liking while adjusting for classroom effects and potential covariates. The majority of Hispanic preschoolers (70%) showed sensitivity to the bitter taste of 6-n-propylthiouracil. Children's broccoli liking increased following exposure but did not vary by dip condition or bitter sensitivity. Bitter-sensitive children, however, ate 80% more broccoli with dressing than when served plain (P<0.001); effects did vary based on whether regular or light dressing was provided as a dip or sauce. Dip did not promote broccoli intake among bitter-insensitive children. Providing dip—regular, light, or as a sauce—increased raw broccoli intake among bitter-sensitive Hispanic preschoolers. Findings suggest that offering low-fat dips can promote vegetable intake among some children who are sensitive to bitter tastes.
Article
This study has evaluated the impact of food choices at 2–3 years old on food preferences later in life, by following up the same subjects. Early preferences were estimated through recordings of food choices conducted in a nursery canteen in children aged 2–3, from 1982 to 1999. The children were free to choose the composition of their lunch from among a varied offering of eight dishes. The same subjects (n=341) were contacted in 2001–2002 and so their ages varied from 17–22 (n=91), 13–16 (n=68), 8–12 (n=99) to 4–7 (n=83). Their present preference for the 80 foods most frequently presented at the nursery canteen was assessed through a questionnaire. Five food categories were studied: vegetables, animal products, cheeses, starchy foods and combined foods. The ranking of preference for the different food categories changed especially after puberty. However, regressions performed by food category indicated that for most categories, individual present preference was highly linked to individual preference at 2–3 years old. The link was the stronger for cheeses, followed to a lesser extent by animal products and vegetables. Present preferences increased with age for vegetables and they decreased with age for animal products only in females (to a lesser extent, they decreased with age for starchy foods and cheeses). Analyses by specific foods confirmed the global analysis. Individual present preference was linked to individual early preference for all mature cheeses and for 50% of the foods for other categories: most of these items were strongly flavoured. This study showed that preferences were stable from 2- to 3-year-old until young adulthood and that some changes in preference occurred during adolescence.
Article
This study tested whether varying the portion of low-energy-dense vegetable soup served at the start of a meal affects meal energy and vegetable intakes in children. Subjects were 3- to 5-year-olds (31 boys and 41 girls) in daycare facilities. Using a crossover design, children were served lunch once a week for four weeks. On three occasions, different portions of tomato soup (150, 225, and 300 g) were served at the start of the meal, and on one occasion no soup was served. Children had 10 min to consume the soup before being served the main course. All foods were consumed ad libitum. The primary outcomes were soup intake as well as energy and vegetable intake at the main course. A mixed linear model tested the effect of soup portion size on intake. Serving any portion of soup reduced entrée energy intake compared with serving no soup, but total meal energy intake was only reduced when 150 g of soup was served. Increasing the portion size increased soup and vegetable intake. Serving low-energy-dense, vegetable soup as a first course is an effective strategy to reduce children's intake of a more energy-dense main entrée and increase vegetable consumption at the meal.
Article
Despite the health benefits, vegetable intake in youth remains below recommended levels. The purpose of our study was to compare two methods for increasing vegetable consumption. It was hypothesized that participants randomized to both the exposure-only and the pairing condition would increase their vegetable consumption and increase the variety of vegetables consumed. A total of 78 Mexican-American middle school-aged children from a charter school in Houston, TX, were randomized to a pairing condition (n=40) or an exposure-only condition (n=38) during the Spring 2009 semester. Children in the pairing condition were provided a preferred taste (peanut butter) paired with vegetables weekly at school during a nutrition class for 4 months. Children in the exposure-only condition received vegetables weekly during a nutrition class that covered the same material as the pairing condition. After 4 months, the pairing condition participants demonstrated significant increases in vegetable consumption (F=13.40, P<0.001) as well as variety of vegetables eaten (F=13.69, P<0.001) when compared to those in the exposure-only condition. The findings of this study suggest that the pairing of vegetables with a preferred taste, such as peanut butter, may be an effective technique in increasing consumption, especially in children who report being resistant to eating vegetables.
Article
Children's food preferences play a major role in their food choices and consumption. The objective of the present study was to examine if repeated tastings of selected vegetables in a school setting increased children's liking of these items. A total of 360 fourth- and fifth-grade students attending four low-income, public elementary schools in southeastern Louisiana volunteered to participate. During the spring of 2008, children were offered a taste of carrots, peas, tomatoes, and bell peppers once a week for 10 weeks. At each tasting session children recorded whether they swallowed each of the vegetables, spit it into the napkin, or did not put it in their mouth and indicated their liking for each vegetable using a Likert-type response scale. Approximately one-half of the children tasted eight of ten times during the program (46.5% for those who began disliking and 68.5% for those who began liking the vegetables). Proc Glimmix analyses indicated that for children who began the program disliking the vegetables, repeated tasting improved liking scores for carrots, peas, and tomatoes; liking for bell peppers did not change. The number of children who reported liking or liking a lot for previously disliked vegetables was greater after eight or nine taste exposures. Repeated tasting of less-liked vegetables by children in a cafeteria-based setting is a strategy to promote liking of these items and is effective in approximately half of the participants.
Article
The objective of this study was to assess the quality of the current intakes of fruits and vegetables compared to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in US children and adolescents and identify factors related to low fruit and vegetable intake. This descriptive study examined differences in fruit and vegetable intakes by age, sex, ethnicity, poverty level, body mass index, and food security status utilizing data from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Six thousand five hundred thirteen children and adolescents ages 2 to 18 years, who were respondents to the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Mean fruit and vegetable intakes were computed using 24-hour recalls for individuals and compared using analysis of variance. Leading contributors to fruit and vegetable intake were identified using frequency analysis. Children aged 2 to 5 years had significantly higher total fruit and juice intakes than 6- to 11- and 12- to 18-year-olds. Total vegetable and french fry intake was significantly higher among 12- to 18-year-old adolescents. Regarding sex differences, boys consumed significantly more fruit juice and french fries than girls. In addition, non-Hispanic African-American children and adolescents consumed significantly more dark-green vegetables and fewer mean deep-yellow vegetables than Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white children and adolescents. Total fruit consumption also differed significantly among race/ethnicities and household income. Children and adolescents most at risk for higher intakes of energy-dense fruits and vegetables (fruit juice and french fries) were generally boys, and adolescents, at risk for overweight or overweight and living in households below 350% of the poverty level.
Article
Conditioning is an important mechanism for establishing food preferences. Although the basic principles for conditioning are well-known, less is known about the conditions under which this type of learning takes place. This paper aims to add to the knowledge of the essential conditions for flavour-nutrient learning with vegetable flavours. We describe a study which aimed to investigate whether flavour-nutrient learning is effective in increasing 7-8-year-old children's preference for vegetables. Their preference for, and consumption of, two different vegetable drinks was measured before and after a 14-day-conditioning period, using a within-subject design. Flavour-nutrient learning could not occur, due to insufficient consumption during the conditioning period: 2.4 g (S.D.=5.6) for the high energy (HE) drink and 3.0 g (S.D.=9.3) for the low energy (LE) drink. The high taste intensity may have caused the insufficient consumption. We hypothesize that the pure taste of vegetables in itself is not acceptable. Mixing vegetables with other foods may lead to gradual acceptance of vegetables through flavour-flavour and flavour-nutrient learning. Future flavour-nutrient learning studies with children should use less intense vegetable flavours.
Article
In two experiments, 20 2-5-year-old children participated in a series of 8 conditioning trials to investigate whether they acquired conditioned preferences based on the fat content of a food. On different days, each child consumed fixed quantities of novelly flavored yogurts that were high or low in fat and energy density (220 or 110 kcal/serving). After conditioning, patterns of ad lib consumption data provided evidence of caloric compensation in response to the energy density differences in the preloads. Children consumed more following the low- than the high-fat preloads. Preference assessments, performed pre- and postconditioning, revealed conditioned flavor preferences based on fat content: children increased their preference for the high-density paired flavor, but no change in preference was noted for the low-density paired flavor. These data suggest that such conditioned flavor preferences based on energy density may be contributing to children's preferences for foods high in dietary fat.
Article
The present series of experiments examined the rat's conditioned preference for flavors associated with intragastric (IG) Polycose infusions. Adult female rats were fitted with two chronic intragastric catheters and were trained to drink flavored water (CS+; e.g., cherry-water) paired with IG infusions of 32% Polycose. On alternate days a different flavor (CS-; grape-water) was paired with IG water infusions. The flavored water and chow were available 23 hr/day. In subsequent two-choice tests the rats displayed strong preferences for the CS+ flavor (up to 98%). The CS+ preference persisted for several weeks during extinction tests when both the CS+ and CS- were paired with IG water or with no infusions. The rats also preferred the CS+ to plain water which contrasts with the mild aversion naive rats display to the flavored water. The acquired preference for the CS+ flavor was not as strong, however, as the rats' innate preferences for the taste of saccharin or Polycose. Also, unlike their response to saccharin and Polycose, the rats' acceptance (absolute intake) of the CS+ flavor was not elevated. CS+ intake was increased, though, when saccharin was added to the flavored water. The rats reversed their flavor preference when the reinforcement contingencies were reversed. Also, in the absence of unique flavor cues, the rats learned to prefer, apparently based on somatosensory cues, the sipper tube that was paired with IG Polycose infusions. The effects of flavor and IG Polycose infusions on drinking patterns and caloric intake are also described.
Article
To determine the relative effectiveness of two different types of exposure on young children's preference for initially novel foods, 51 two- to five-year-old children received either "look" or "taste" exposures to seven novel fruits. Foods were exposed five, 10 or 15 times, and one food remained novel. Following the exposures, children made two judgments of each of the 21 pairs: one based on looking, the other on tasting the foods. Thurstone Case V scaling solutions were correlated with exposure frequency, and these were significant for the visual judgments of the looked at foods (r = 0.91), the visual judgments of the tasted (and looked at) foods (r = 0.97) and the taste judgments of the tasted foods (r = 0.94). The only non-significant relationship was for the taste judgments of the looked at (but never tasted) foods (r = 0.24). The results indicate that to obtain significant positive changes in preference, experience with the food must include experience in the modality that is relevant for the judgments. While visual experience produced enhanced visual preference judgments, visual experience was not sufficient to produce significantly enhanced taste preferences. This finding is consistent with a "learned safety" interpretation of the exposure effects noted in the taste judgments: experiences with novel tastes that are not followed by negative gastrointestinal consequences can produce enhanced taste preference.
Article
In attempts to force children to increase consumption of certain foods, parents frequently make another activity contingent upon consumption of those foods, i.e., “Drink your milk and then you can watch T.V.” The research reported below examines the effect on food preference of using a food in the instrumental component of a contingency. Twelve preschool children's preferences for seven fruit juices and seven play activities were assessed twice, before and after imposition of contingency schedules. The “target” juice and play activity used in the contingency were selected from the middle of the child's preference orders. Fixed ratio schedules were constructed for each child, using baseline data from sessions in which both the target juice and activity were freely available, and administered in six contingency sessions, each with two cycles of the contingency over a three-week period. During this same period, children received an approximately equivalent amount of exposure to the other juices and activities in the classroom to control for possible differential familiarity effects on preference. Results indicated a significant negative shift in preference for the target juice consumed instrumentally but no change in preference for the target activity. Findings are related to response deprivation and over-justification hypotheses. Implications for child feeding practices are discussed.
Article
The relationship between frequency of exposure to foods and preference for those foods was investigated in two experiments. Participants in both studies were two-year-old children. In Experiment 1, each of six children received 20, 15, 10, 5 or 2 exposures of five initially novel cheeses during a 26-day series of familiarization trials in which one pair of foods was presented per day. In Experiment 2, eight children received 20, 15, 10, 5 and 0 exposures to five initially novel fruits, following the same familiarization procedures, for 25 days. The particular food assigned to an exposure frequency was counterbalanced over subjects. Initial novelty was ascertained through food history information. Within ten days after the familiarization trials, children were given ten choice trials, comprising all possible pairs of the five foods. Thurstone scaling solutions were obtained for the series of choices: when the resulting scale values for the five stimuli were correlated with exposure frequency, values of r = 0·95, p < 0·02; r = 0·97, p < 0·01; and r = 0·94, p < 0·02 were obtained for the data of Experiments 1, 2, and the combined sample, respectively. A second analysis, employing subjects rather than stimuli as degrees of freedom, revealed that 13 of 14 subjects chose the more familiar stimulus in the sequence of ten choice trials at greater than the level expected by chance, providing evidence for effects within subjects as well as consistency across subjects. These results indicate that preference is an increasing function of exposure frequency. The data are consistent with the mere exposure hypothesis (Zajonc, 1968) as well as with the literature on the role of neophobia in food selection of animals other than man.