NCT03043118

Children's Taste Study to Increase Vegetable Intake in Preschoolers

A Pilot Study to Test the Influence of Vegetable Flavor Variety Using Herbs and Spices on Preschool Children's Vegetable Intake

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 48 (actual)
• Sponsor: Penn State University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 3 Years – 5 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Studies have shown that when exposed to a variety of food and flavor options people tend to consume more than when only one item is presented. This strategy has been used to increase vegetable intake in adults and during snacktime in children. Increasing vegetable consumption in children is important because higher vegetable intake has been associated with reduced risk of disease and because vegetables can help prevent weight gain by lowering the energy density of a meal. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using herb and spice blends to create flavor variety in carrots as a model vegetable in a laboratory test meal. We predict that children will consume more vegetables and that the energy density of the meal will be lower when a variety of seasoned carrots are presented in comparison to a single flavor. A secondary goal of the study was to determine other influences that may predict children's liking and intake of seasoned vegetables, such as previous exposure, infant feeding practices, and genetic bitter sensitivity.

Conditions

• Pediatric Obesity

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Variety Intervention	Vegetable flavor variety created with multiple herb and spice blends

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-02-01
• Primary completion: 2016-11-02
• Completion: 2016-11-02
• First posted: 2017-02-03
• Last updated: 2022-04-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States