Nofima AS, P.O. Box 210, 1431 Ås, Norway; Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1046, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway.
Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS, INRA, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000 Dijon, France.
Appetite. 2018 Aug 1;127:130-137. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.04.027. Epub 2018 May 3.
This study aims at understanding how preference and sensitivity to the basic tastes develop in the preschool years, and how the two relate to each other. To expand on the existing literature regarding taste preferences conducted in cross-sectional studies, a longitudinal design was applied with children from age four to six years old. During the springs of 2015, 2016, and 2017, 131 children born in 2011 were tested in their kindergartens. To investigate preferences for sweet, sour and bitter tastes, the children performed ranking-by-elimination procedures on fruit-flavored beverages and chocolates with three taste intensity levels. The beverages varied in either sucrose, citric acid, or the bitter component isolone. The chocolates varied in the bitter component theobromine from cocoa and sucrose content. Each year, the children also performed paired-comparison tasks opposing plain water to tastant dilutions at four concentrations. The stimuli consisted of the five basic tastes: sweet (sucrose) sour (citric acid monohydrate) umami (monosodium glutamate), salty (sodium chloride), and bitter (quinine hydrochloride dihydrate). Preference for sweetness levels increased with age, while preference for bitterness and sourness levels were stable. Concerning taste sensitivity, the children showed an increase in sensitivity for sourness and saltiness, a decrease for sweetness, and stability for umami and bitterness. A negative association was found between sweetness sensitivity and preference for sweetness. The study highlights different trajectories of sensitivity and preferences across tastes. On average, a reduction in sweetness sensitivity combined with an increase in preference for higher sweetness was observed from the age of four to six. The weak relationship between taste sensitivity and taste preference in our data suggests that taste preference development is shaped by a multitude of factors in addition to taste sensitivity.
这项研究旨在了解学龄前儿童对基本味觉的偏好和敏感性是如何发展的，以及两者之间的关系。为了扩展已有关于味觉偏好的横断面研究文献，本研究采用了纵向设计，对 2011 年出生的 4 至 6 岁儿童进行了研究。在 2015 年、2016 年和 2017 年的春季，在幼儿园对 131 名儿童进行了测试。为了研究甜味、酸味和苦味的偏好，孩子们通过消除排序程序对三种口味强度水平的水果味饮料和巧克力进行了测试。饮料中的甜味剂分别为蔗糖、柠檬酸或苦味成分异隆。巧克力中的苦味成分来自可可豆中的可可碱和蔗糖含量。每年，孩子们还对普通水与四种浓度下的味觉稀释剂进行了配对比较任务。刺激物包括五种基本味觉：甜味（蔗糖）、酸味（一水柠檬酸）、鲜味（谷氨酸单钠）、咸味（氯化钠）和苦味（盐酸奎宁二水合物）。甜味水平的偏好随着年龄的增长而增加，而苦味和酸味水平的偏好则保持稳定。关于味觉敏感性，孩子们的酸味和咸味敏感性增加，甜味敏感性降低，鲜味和苦味敏感性保持稳定。甜味敏感性和甜味偏好之间存在负相关。该研究强调了不同味觉的敏感性和偏好的不同轨迹。平均而言，从 4 岁到 6 岁，甜味敏感性降低，对更高甜度的偏好增加。我们的数据表明，味觉敏感性和味觉偏好之间的弱关系表明，味觉偏好的发展除了味觉敏感性之外，还受到许多因素的影响。
