Development of food texture preferences and perception in children

Abstract

This research investigated children's texture preferences and perceptions of hardness and particle content of foods while changing dentition and oral processing skills. Two experiments involving 475 and 485 children (ages 5–12) were conducted in a local museum. In the first study, children completed a forced-choice texture preference questionnaire by selecting between drawings of food pairs available in hard or soft versions. They reported dentition status and evaluated perceived eating difficulty and liking for products varying in hardness. In the second study, children followed similar protocols to indicate preferences for particles in foods (with-particle vs no-particles) and perceived particle size using yogurts with muesli (small- or large-sized pieces). They also evaluated their overall liking for yogurts. Despite no age or dentition-related differences in preferences for food hardness, products requiring more chewing were perceived as more difficult to eat. Perceived eating difficulty negatively influenced liking. Regarding particle perception, children developed preferences for particle-containing foods with age, accompanied by an improved ability to differentiate particle size differences in the mouth. However, these changes had little influence on yogurt liking. This work highlighted the developmental progression of children's texture preference for particle-containing foods, whereas changing dentition seemed to play a minor role.