Children's acceptability profiles for biscuits with different fiber content.

Due to the widespread rejection by children of products with high-fiber content, new approaches to meet the dietary recommendations on fiber intake are necessary. To understand which sensory properties influence this rejection, children's acceptability was examined in high-fiber biscuits and drivers of liking were identified. One hundred and ten Spanish children (6-12 years old) evaluated the overall liking of eight commercial biscuits with variable fiber content and stated their preference. To study the drivers of liking, the samples were characterized through a quantitative descriptive analysis, the determination of the moisture and water activity as well as the instrumental evaluation of texture with a texture analyzer. It was suggested that the addition of fiber in biscuits reduced children's liking ratings. High-fiber samples were sensory and instrumentally described as harder, crispier, and more chewing than the samples with medium and low fiber content. The main sensory driver of liking identified in this study was the soft texture. Despite their hard texture, high- and medium-fiber samples were chosen as the preferred ones for 14% of the children that participated when they included chocolate taste. Drivers of disliking identified in this study were related to the addition of fruit as a filling or as dehydrated pieces. This knowledge about children's acceptability of high-fiber products might be of interest for the food industry with the aim of developing well-accepted products that supply nutritional deficiencies associated with the fiber intake.

Yuck, This Biscuit Looks Lumpy! Neophobic Levels and Cultural Differences Drive Children's Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) Descriptions and Preferences for High-Fibre Biscuits.

Food neophobia influences food choice in school-aged children. However, little is known about how children with different degrees of food neophobia perceive food and to what extent different sensory attributes drive their liking. This paper explores liking and sensory perception of fibre-rich biscuits in school-aged children (n = 509, age 9-12 years) with different degrees of food neophobia and from five different European countries (Finland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom). Children tasted and rated their liking of eight commercial biscuits and performed a Check-All-That-Apply task to describe the samples and further completed a Food Neophobia Scale. Children with a higher degree of neophobia displayed a lower liking for all tasted biscuits (p < 0.001). Cross-cultural differences in liking also appeared (p < 0.001). A negative correlation was found between degree of neophobia and the number of CATA-terms used to describe the samples (r = -0.116, p = 0.009). Penalty analysis showed that degree of food neophobia also affected drivers of biscuit liking, where particularly appearance terms were drivers of disliking for neophobic children. Cross-cultural differences in drivers of liking and disliking were particularly salient for texture attributes. Further research should explore if optimizing appearance attributes could be a way to increase liking of fibre-rich foods in neophobic children.

Involving children in cooking activities: A potential strategy for directing food choices toward novel foods containing vegetables.

Involving children in cooking has been suggested as a strategy to improve dietary habits in childhood. Interventions in schools including cooking, gardening and tasting activities have showed promising results. Several cross-sectional surveys demonstrated associations between frequency of involvement in food preparation and better diet quality. However, experimental studies confirming the beneficial effect of cooking on food choices in children are missing from the literature. The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of involving children in cooking on their willingness to taste novel foods, food intake, liking and hunger. A between-subject experiment was conducted with 137 children between 7 and 11 years old. 69 children (COOK group) participated in the preparation of three unfamiliar foods containing vegetables: apple/beetroot juice, zucchini tortilla sandwich and spinach cookies. 68 children (CONTROL group) participated, instead, in a creative workshop. Afterwards, the children were invited to choose, for an afternoon snack, between three familiar vs. unfamiliar foods: orange vs. apple/beetroot juice, potato vs. zucchini tortilla sandwich and chocolate vs. spinach cookie. The mean number of unfamiliar foods chosen per child was higher in the COOK vs. CONTROL group (P = 0.037). The overall willingness to taste the unfamiliar foods was also higher in the COOK group (P = 0.011). The liking for the whole afternoon snack (P = 0.034), for 2 of 3 unfamiliar foods and for 1 of 3 familiar foods was higher in the COOK group (P < 0.05). We did not demonstrate any difference between the two groups in overall food intake and hunger/satiety scores. This study demonstrated that involving children in cooking can increase their willingness to taste novel foods and direct food choices towards foods containing vegetables.