Exposure to foods' non-taste sensory properties. A nursery intervention to increase children's willingness to try fruit and vegetables
Open accessAbstract
Activities that engage young children with the sensory properties of foods are popular with nursery schools, despite the lack of evidence for their efficacy in increasing children's consumption of healthy foods. This study provides the first empirical exploration of the effectiveness of a non-taste sensory activity program in a nursery school setting. Ninety-two children aged between 12 and 36 months were allocated either to an intervention group, who took part in looking, listening, feeling and smelling activities with unusual fruits and vegetables every day for 4 weeks, or to a non-intervention control group. In a subsequent mealtime taste test, children touched and tasted more of the vegetables to which they had been familiarized in their playtime activities than of a matched set of non-exposed foods. The results demonstrate that hands-on activities with unfamiliar fruits and vegetables can enhance children's willingness to taste these foods, and confirm the potential for such activities to support healthy eating initiatives.
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Changes in anticipated liking may follow this approach behaviour in both trial arms.
“Changes in anticipated liking may follow this approach behaviour in both trial arms (Dazeley & Houston-Price, 2015; Priester et al., 1996).”
From Children overcoming picky eating (COPE) - A cluster randomised controlled trial. (2020) · cites this paper as Dazeley & Houston-Price, 2015
The Results report that children in both exposure groups approached previously exposed foods first, supporting the reference to approach behaviour. The paper does not measure anticipated liking or say that changes in liking may follow that behaviour, so it does not support the sentence’s main inference. (LLM, conf=0.78)
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References 28 · Cited by 118
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Heath, P. (2013). Improving children's responses to fruit and vegetables. Picture-book exposure and the impact of food familiarity and liking (Ph.D. thesis). University of Reading.
- Rozin, P. (1976). The selection of food by rats, humans and other animals. In J. Rosenblatt, R. Hinde, C. Beer, & E. Shaw (Eds.), Advances in the study of behaviour (Vol. 6; pp. 21-76). London/New York: Academic Books.
- Thomas, L. (2007). Mange tout. Teaching your children to love fruit and vegetables without tears. London: Penguin.
- Authors
- Dazeley, P., & Houston-Price, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Reading (GB)
- Venue
- Appetite
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-01
- Volume
- 84
- Pages
- 1-6
- ISSN
- 0195-6663 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2012631923
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 7.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Appetite (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CentAUR (University of Reading) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Reading
- Economic and Social Research Council
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Sensory Analysis and Statistical Methods
- Keywords
- food familiarity, healthy eating promotion
- MeSH terms
- Child Behavior, Child Day Care Centers, Child, Preschool, Diet, Eating, Feeding Behavior, Food Preferences, Fruit, Health Promotion, Humans, Infant, Nurseries, Infant, Odorants, Play and Playthings, Schools, Smell, Taste, Touch, Vegetables, Vision, Ocular, Infant Behavior
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