VLAARDINGEN, The Netherlands—A recent study, scheduled for publication in the journal Appetite, found that children’s ability to discern flavor preferences depends on their age, and that, in terms of flavor preference, mother doesn’t always know best.
Researchers at Deakin University, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Burwood, VIC,Australia joined with the Unilever Food & Health Research Institute, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands, to determine whether children could communicate stable flavor preferences and whether their mothers’ ability to correctly identify their child's flavor preferences is related to the stability of their child’s flavor preferences. The group of 75 girls and 77 boys, age 3 to10 years, ranked five ice-cream flavors—mint, coffee, chocolate and two types of vanilla—by preference. Without input from their child, the mothers ranked the flavors in the order they thought their children would.
The researchers found that older children (5 to 10 years) have more stable flavor preferences than younger children (3 to 5 years). Additional, only 39% of mothers were able to correctly predict their kid’s most-preferred flavor, although 61% were able to accurately predict children’s least preferred flavor.
The researchers concluded that sensory studies should apply proper methodologies with children rather than relying on mothers’ report when interested in children’s likes. However, when looking at children’s dislikes, mothers’ report might be accurate.
