Digital Media Use in Association with Sensory Taste Preferences in European Children and Adolescents-Results from the I.Family Study.

Elida Sina,Wolfgang Ahrens,Luis Moreno,Hannah Jilani,Lucia Reisch,On Behalf Of The I.family Consortium ,Antje Hebestreit,Valeria Pala,Lauren Lissner,Alfonso Siani,Antonia Solea,Dénes Molnár,Christoph Buck,Stefaan De Henauw,Toomas Veidebaum

doi:10.3390/foods10020377

Abstract

Digital media (DM) influences children’s food choice. We aim to investigate associations between DM use and taste preferences (TP) for sweet, fatty, bitter, and salty in European children and adolescents. Individuals aged 6–17 years (N = 7094) providing cross-sectional data for DM use: television (TV), computer/game console (PC), smartphone and internet, were included. Children (6 to <12 years) and adolescents (≥12 years) completed a Food and Beverage Preference Questionnaire; scores were calculated for sweet, fatty, salty and bitter preference and categorized (high vs. low). Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios as association measures between DM exposure and TP. On average, individuals used media for 2.4 h/day (SD = 1.7). Increasing exposures to DM were associated positively with sweet, fatty and salty TP, while inversely with bitter preference. In female adolescents, DM exposure for >2 h/day was associated with sweet (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.02–1.57) and fatty preference (OR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.10–1.70). Internet exposure was inversely associated with bitter preference, notably in male adolescents (OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.50–0.84), but positively associated with salty preference (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.02–1.64). DM exposure was associated with sweet, fatty, salty and bitter TP in children and adolescents, serving as the basis for future longitudinal studies to shed light on the underlying mechanism by which DM exposure may determine eating habits.

Highlights

The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity worldwide is mainly driven by modifiable lifestyle risk factors including unhealthy dietary intake [1] and adoption of sedentary behaviors such as use of screen media devices [2]
We investigated the association of Digital media (DM) exposure durations with sweet and fatty taste preferences (TP) by stratifying the whole sample by sweet and fat intake propensity respectively, based on logistic regressions, while adjusting for covariates
Our cross-sectional study showed that exposure to increasing durations of DM was positively associated with sweet, fatty and salty taste preference in all participants, while inverse associations were observed for bitter TP, independently of diet quality and weight status

Summary

Introduction

The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity worldwide is mainly driven by modifiable lifestyle risk factors including unhealthy dietary intake [1] and adoption of sedentary behaviors such as use of screen media devices [2]. One of the core recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) to halt childhood obesity is to reduce children’s intake of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS foods) [1] It is well-documented that food intake is determined by taste preferences (TP) which are established during childhood and adolescence and are meant to track into adulthood [3]. Evidence shows that children learn to prefer energy dense foods over energy-diluted versions of the same foods [8]. This behavior may promote adverse health effects in the current obesogenic environments with the omnipresence of HFSS foods, together with a high exposure to these foods in the digital environment

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