Effects of repeated exposure on acceptance of initially disliked and liked Nordic snack bars in 9-11 year-old children.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Children's food choices are guided by their preferences. It is established, however, that repeated exposure to a novel food increases children's acceptance. This study investigated how acceptance of an initially liked and disliked snack bar develops in 9-11 year-old children. METHODS: 315 children were randomised into three groups: A control group (n = 111) and two groups exposed to an initially liked kamut bar (n = 94) and an initially disliked sea buckthorn bar (n = 110). Acceptance of both bars was tested before and after the exposure period, and on the 9th exposure. RESULTS: Intake of both bars increased significantly in the exposure groups. There was no difference in the control groups' intake or liking of the bars between pre and post-testing. Liking rose significantly for children exposed to the disliked sea buckthorn bar, while this was not observed in children exposed to the liked kamut bar. In a post-test children exposed to kamut bars had higher intake of that bar than non-exposed children. This was also observed for the sea buckthorn bar that was also given significantly higher liking scores by the exposure group. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of children exposed to an initially disliked bar increase acceptance after nine exposures to the same level as an initially liked bar. Children repeatedly exposed to a liked bar show stable acceptance.

Comparison of sensory specific satiety and sensory specific desires to eat in children and adults.

The aim of this experiment is to compare sensory specific satiety (SSS) and sensory specific desire to eat (SSD), which can be described as general wanting for certain taste categories and go beyond specific foods, in children and adults and their impact on subsequent food choices. Eighty-seven children (10.3 ± 0.6 years) and 49 adults (31.0 ± 2.0 years) participated in the study. Sweet pear banana yoghurt was used as the food eaten to satiation, and test foods representing sweet, salty, sour, bitter, "fatty", and "spicy" flavors were also evaluated (foods not eaten). At baseline and post meal participants evaluated hunger, satiation, liking, and wanting for test foods and yoghurt, and desires on a 150 mm visual analogue score (VAS) scale. The yoghurt was eaten until a state of "comfortable satiation" was reached. Results showed that SSS and SSD were expressed differently in children and adults. In children, SSS was primarily product specific and bound to the yoghurt, whereas in adults SSS was transferred to the uneaten foods sharing sensory characteristics with the yoghurt (namely sweet, sour and "fatty"), which all decreased in their liking post meal. Similar differences were found for SSD. We conclude that children and adults differ in their expression of SSS and SSD, and this might have implications for planning meal compositions.