If you feel like your six-year-old has suddenly become extra picky about the texture of his dinner, don’t worry. It will succeed. A new study from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food Sciences shows that at the age of six, children avoid crunch in their peanut butter, berries in jam and pieces of fruit in yogurt.
In the study, the researchers asked 485 children between the ages of five and twelve to choose between six different foods, with and without lumps, seeds and pieces of fruit in them. The food consisted of bread, orange juice, peanut butter, strawberry jam, yogurt and tomato soup. The researchers showed children drawings of these foods, both with and without lumps, and then asked them to choose between them.
Six-year-olds chose food without lumps 76 percent of the time, the highest preference rate observed across all age groups.
“The fact that children generally don’t like too many lumps in food is probably something that many people can relate to, but this is the first time that a scientific study has so clearly linked a specific age group, namely six-year-olds, to this food preference,” said Dr. Ching Yue Chow, first author of the study.
To get the most accurate answers possible, the researchers used real food to test how consistent children were in answering these questions in other studies.
Protection against hazardous foods
According to Ching Yue Chow, there may be an explanation why children’s fear of complex textures in food is greatest around the age of six.
“Food neophobia is often described as the reluctance to eat new or unfamiliar foods. It is thought to have a protective function to prevent children from eating potentially poisonous foods or other dangerous things as they begin to become more independent. Studies have reported that food neophobia starts from a low baseline at weaning. It increases sharply as a child becomes more mobile and independent, reaching a peak around age 6 or 7.
As such, it makes sense that this particular group in our study does not like too many lumps in food, as they are the most cautious when it comes to eating at this age,” explains Ching Yue Chow.
The researchers also investigated whether the chunk size in food has something to say. But here they did not find a clear answer.
“It seemed that the children generally had no problems distinguishing the different sizes of chunks when there was food in their mouths. For them, what matters most is the presence or absence of chunks,” says Ching Yue Chow.
But while there is a low point in the desire to eat food with chunks at the age of six, it gradually goes the other way among 7-12 year olds, the research shows. And this is supported by our previous knowledge of how children’s food preferences age.
“As children reach school age, they may be more influenced by classmates and others around them to try new types of food and have more of a desire to broaden their horizons. We can also see that the percentage who would like to eat with The research shows that the pieces of food grow with their age,” says Ching Yue Chow.
New dishes may need to be introduced 8-15 times
And according to the researcher, as a parent you should accept the ‘anti-food phase’ that six-year-olds have, although it can be frustrating if the children do not want to eat the food they are given. But that can easily change once they pass the critical age of six. You just have to keep trying – often up to 15 times, the recommendation is:
“A lot of research into children and foods shows that repeated exposure to new dishes has a positive effect on whether they bother to eat them. In concrete terms, it is about giving children the opportunity to taste new food while there is something on the plate that they already know. They often have to be presented with the new dish 8 to 15 times before they develop a preference for it, but perseverance pays off. effort,” Ching Yue Chow explains.
Additionally, it’s a good idea to avoid compulsions and rewards for children to eat their vegetables.
“Rewarding a child with ice cream when they eat their broccoli is a short-term strategy. Because as soon as you take the ice cream out, they don’t want to eat the healthy food anymore. At the same time, you should.” “Don’t pressure or force a child to eat certain things because you risk making them eat the new food even less than before because they associate it with something negative,” says Ching Yue Chow.
The new research results shed more light on the food preferences of children between the ages of five and twelve, which the researcher hopes will help parents and the food industry become wiser about our relationship with food.
“It is important to understand the underlying psychology of children when you serve them food as a parent and when you as a company develop new products to prevent children from becoming unnecessarily picky. Here, I hope our research can serve as an inspiration for parents and those developing new nutritional products,” concluded Ching Yue Chow.
6-year-olds like lumps in their food the least:
About the study:
- The research was conducted in close collaboration between Future Consumer Lab, Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen and the CASS Food Research Center at Deakin University, Australia.
- The researchers behind the study are: Ching Yue Chow, Anne C. Bech, Annemarie Olsen, Russell Keast, Catherine G. Russell and Wender LP Bredie.
- The study involved 485 Australian children aged 5 to 12 years.
- The research is funded by Innovation Fund Denmark and Arla Foods.
