School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley, Reading, RG6 6BZ, UK.
School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley, Reading, RG6 6BZ, UK.
Appetite. 2022 Jan 1;168:105784. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105784. Epub 2021 Nov 5.
Vegetable consumption falls well below recommended levels for children in the UK. Previous research has found that repeated non-taste sensory exposure over the course of several days increases young children's willingness to touch and taste vegetables. The current study examined the impact of a one-off multisensory non-taste exposure intervention that took place on a single day on children's willingness to taste and intake of the exposed vegetables. Children (N = 110) aged 3- to 4-years-old were assigned to one of three intervention groups or to a control group. Children in all groups participated individually in a single activity session delivered in their nursery. Children in the intervention conditions took part in fun activities that provided either (a) visual exposure, (b) smell and visual exposure, or (c) smell, touch and visual exposure to six raw and prepared vegetables. Children in the control group engaged in a visual exposure activity with non-food items. After the exposure activities, all children were offered the prepared vegetables to eat; their willingness to taste and intake of the vegetables were measured. Results confirmed previous findings of sensory exposure activities increasing children's willingness to taste and intake of vegetables and revealed linear trends in both measures of acceptance with the number of senses engaged; children who took part in smell, touch and visual activities showed the highest level of acceptance. Findings suggest that multisensory exposures are effective in increasing consumption of vegetables in young children and that the effect of sensory exposure to healthy foods may be cumulative, with the more senses engaged prior to offering a food, the better.
英国儿童的蔬菜摄入量远低于推荐水平。先前的研究发现，在几天内反复进行非味觉感官暴露会增加幼儿触摸和品尝蔬菜的意愿。本研究考察了在一天内进行一次性多感官非味觉暴露干预对儿童品尝和摄入暴露蔬菜意愿的影响。3 至 4 岁的儿童（N=110）被分配到三个干预组或对照组之一。所有组的儿童都在他们的托儿所单独参加了一个单一的活动课程。在干预条件下的儿童参与了有趣的活动，这些活动提供了（a）视觉暴露、（b）嗅觉和视觉暴露、或（c）嗅觉、触觉和视觉暴露于六种生的和准备好的蔬菜。对照组的儿童参与了非食物物品的视觉暴露活动。在暴露活动后，所有儿童都被提供准备好的蔬菜吃；测量他们对蔬菜的品尝和摄入量。结果证实了先前的感官暴露活动增加儿童品尝和摄入蔬菜意愿的发现，并揭示了接受度的线性趋势与参与的感官数量有关；参与嗅觉、触觉和视觉活动的儿童表现出最高的接受度。研究结果表明，多感官暴露可有效增加幼儿对蔬菜的摄入量，且对健康食品的感官暴露的效果可能是累积的，在提供食物之前参与的感官越多，效果越好。
