Sensory characteristics of vegetables consumed by Australian children

Abstract

Objectives: Consumption is driven by children's sensory acceptance, but little is known about the sensory characteristics of vegetables that children commonly eat. A greater understanding could help design more effective interventions to help raise intakes, thus realising beneficial health effects. This study sought to: (1) Understand the vegetable consumption patterns in children, with and without potatoes, using the Australian and WHO definitions. (2) Describe the sensory characteristics of vegetables consumed by children by age group, level of intake and variety. (3) Determine the vegetable preferences of children, by age group, level of intake and variety.

Design: Analysis of National Nutrition Survey data, combining reported vegetable intake with sensory characteristics described by a trained panel.

Setting: Australia.

Participants: A nationally representative sample of Australian children and adolescents aged 2-17·9 years (n 2812).

Results: While consumption increased in older age groups, variety remained constant. Greater variety, however, was associated with higher vegetable consumption. Potato intake increased with consumption, contributing over one-third of total vegetable intake for highest vegetable consumption and for older age groups. Children favoured relatively sweet vegetables and reported lower consumption of bitter vegetables. There were no differences in the sensory properties of vegetables consumed by children in different age groups. After potatoes, carrots, sweetcorn, mixtures, fruiting and cruciferous types were preferred vegetables.

Conclusion: Children tend to prefer vegetables with sensory characteristics consistent with innate taste preferences (sweet and low bitterness). Increasing exposure to a variety of vegetables may help increase the persistently low vegetable consumption patterns of children.

Keywords: Adolescent; Child; Preference; Sensory; Taste perception; Texture perception; Vegetables.