Food Rejection Research Articles

Food rejection is associated with tactile sensitivity and tactile appreciation in three-year-old children

Food rejections are common in young children and often include healthy foods, hereby impairing the quality of their diet. Previous studies indicate that food texture may play a role in children's food preferences and intake. Building on these findings, as part of an ongoing longitudinal project, the present study investigated whether food rejection is related to tactile sensitivity and tactile appreciation in three-year-old children. A total of 259 children and 289 parents participated in the study. Child food rejection was measured using an ad libitum taste test, in which children were asked to try four different types of vegetables. Next to this, parents reported on their child's food rejection tendencies by completing the Child Food Rejection Scale (CFRS), and indicating their child's liking of 14 vegetables and 11 fruits (Liking of foods). Tactile appreciation was measured using a behavioural Affective Appreciation of Textures (AAT) task, in which children were asked to feel five different objects with their hands and were asked to indicate the pleasantness of the sensation on a three-point smiley-scale. The subscale Touch of the parental questionnaire Sensory Profile (SP-t) was further used to measure tactile sensitivity. Results show that stronger food rejection measured using an ad-libitum taste test is related to a dislike of textures measured using the AAT task. Similarly, parent-reported food rejection measured using CFRS and Liking of foods is positively related to parent-reported tactile sensitivity measured using SP-t. Together, these findings suggest that some children do not only reject food because of its taste, but also because of their dislike of textures. To increase healthy food intake in picky children, it may thus prove helpful to improve children's appreciation of textures.

Interventions for Managing Picky Eating in Preschool Children: Literature Review

Introduction: Picky eating in children is a widespread issue that can affect growth and development. Factors contributing to picky eating include parental influence, early feeding practices, and environmental conditions. Addressing picky eating behavior is crucial to prevent long-term negative effects on children's nutrition and health. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions, such as sensory education, parent training, oral interventions, massage, and diet adjustments, in improving picky eating behavior in children. Method: A review of 15 studies published between 2013 and 2023 was conducted, focusing on intervention programs for children aged 1-6 years. The studies were selected from databases like PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. Result: Sensory education helped reduce food rejection by familiarizing children with new foods. Parent training, including cooking classes and the Baby Led Weaning (BLW) method, effectively reduced picky eating. Oral interventions, such as herbal remedies and appetite-enhancing supplements, showed positive outcomes. Massage techniques like Tui Na and tailored dietary plans also contributed to better eating habits in both underweight and overweight children. Conclusion: Interventions including sensory education, parental training, oral treatments, massage, and diet modifications can significantly improve eating behaviors in picky eater children, promoting healthier nutrition and growth.

Food Encounters in the Tropics and the Andes: Isaac Holton’s Sensorial Construction of Disgust with Colombian Food in the Nineteenth Century

ABSTRACT This article examines the circulation of travel writing in the formation of white tastes created rhetorically and materially in opposition to the tastes of locals, focusing on food encounters between U.S. writers and Latin Americans in the mid-nineteenth century. It examines the representation of Colombian foodways in the travel accounts of North American botanist Isaac Holton published in 1857. Holton’s rejection of certain foods, especially those that Colombians seemed to enjoy most, is presented as evidence of his sense of moral superiority. Scholarship on American travel and empire shows how discourses in colonial food encounters and narratives about morality and good taste created stereotypes that persisted over time. Food mediated the daily relationship between travelers and locals in contexts of contested social and political power. To address the coloniality of food encounters, this essay focuses on the textual circulation of representations of African-descended and racially mixed Colombians as lazy and dirty. Their food and foodways served as political, racialized, and gendered metaphors that represented subaltern Colombians in a growing global community of readers. Narratives of disgust about people of the tropics and the Andes help readers to understand how early American travelers to Colombia drew on their sensory experiences to construct narratives that interpreted cultural differences as national and moral. This analysis exposes the link between emotions and senses in forming narratives of “otherness” in the Americas.

Influence of vegetable knowledge in preschooler’s vegetable consumption: Veggies4myHeart project

Abstract Background Vegetable consumption among children is below recommended. Food rejection, especially vegetables, is common in preschool-aged children. Impoverished food knowledge is associated with this rejection. The Veggies4myHeart project aims to promote vegetable consumption and knowledge among preschoolers’. This study assesses the project’s effectiveness in increasing vegetable knowledge and consumption and whether increased knowledge influences vegetable consumption. Methods Veggies4myHeart is a prospective longitudinal study with children 2-6 years old attending preschools. Two preschools participated in a five-week intervention in the 2023/24 academic year. A distinctive pedagogical tool was tested in each preschool: a storybook and a digital game. Knowledge and vegetable consumption were assessed before and after the intervention. Knowledge was evaluated through a questionnaire with taxonomic categorization. Consumption was assessed by recording the portions of eight vegetables (carrot, lettuce, red cabbage, cucumber, tomato, onion, beetroot, and red bell pepper). Wilcoxon test was applied to compare vegetable knowledge and consumption before and after the intervention. Spearman’s correlation was used to examine the association between knowledge and vegetable consumption before and after the intervention. Results 98 children (55.1% female, mean age 4.15 ± 0.868 years) participated. Statistically significant increases in both knowledge and total vegetable consumption were observed post-intervention in both preschools (p < 0.001). A moderate correlation of 0.412 (p = 0.013) in the storybook group post-intervention suggests that increased knowledge may contribute to increased vegetable consumption. Conclusions This study demonstrates the potential of the Veggies4myHeart project as an effective strategy to promote knowledge about vegetables among preschool children, highlighting the critical role of educational interventions in promoting healthier dietary patterns. Key messages • To increase vegetable knowledge may lead to higher consumption in preschool children. • Veggies4myHeart demonstrated its effectiveness as an educational project for preschool children.

Persepsi Pengasuh dalam Pola Asuh dan Pemberian Makan pada Anak dengan Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder that affects a child's motor skills and motor skills, which often causes difficulties in parenting and feeding. This study aims to explore the perception of caregivers related to parenting and feeding in children with CP at the Jakarta Disabled Children Development Foundation (YPAC). The research uses a qualitative method with in-depth interviews with caregivers and educators at YPAC. The results of the study show that caregivers tend to apply a responsive parenting style aimed at increasing children's independence, although this process takes a long time. In feeding, caregivers face challenges such as food rejection, physical limitations in chewing and swallowing, and proper feeding positioning. In conclusion, caregiver support plays a very important role in improving the quality of life of CP children, both in terms of independence and proper nutritional intake. Training and support for caregivers is important to deal with these challenges more effectively.

Olfactory performance and odor liking are negatively associated with food neophobia in children aged between 3 and 9 years

BackgroundChild food neophobia, i.e., rejection or avoidance of novel foods at a young age, is a prevalent nutrition problem that affects the quality of children’s diet and impedes the development of healthy food preferences. Sensory sensitivity can relate to the degree of food neophobia, but previous studies rarely focused on the olfactory component of this problem in children.ObjectiveWe aimed to thoroughly examine the relationship between various aspects of olfactory sensitivity and food neophobia in children.Methods246 children aged between three and nine years took part in a food neophobia assessment as well as in a comprehensive, psychophysical olfactory testing.ResultsWe found that certain smell perception aspects such as lower odor liking, poorer odor identification ability as well as lower sensitivity to an unknown non-food odor all significantly predicted higher food neophobia in children. Among individual characteristics of either a child or a caregiver, only the child’s age significantly and positively predicted food neophobia. The exploratory model looking into the role of family environment factors predicting self-reported food neophobia in children revealed that food neophobia was associated with lower control given to a child in this child’s feeding process, as well as with a more frequent use of food as a reward in feeding.ConclusionsWe suggest that suppressed olfactory perception and performance can play a unique role in child nutritional difficulties. The study inspires further considerations of olfaction-engaging interventions to counteract food-neophobia in children.

Arousal and the modulation of sensory experience: evidence from food-related emotions.

Across sensory systems, several stimulus collative characteristics, including intensity, novelty, complexity and perceived dangerousness, are known to elicit high levels of physiological and psychological arousal. It has become apparent that food rejections by both children and adults are frequently linked to such arousal-inducing characteristics. This paper examines how arousal and arousability are important elements in responding to stimuli generally, but specifically to foods, ultimately influencing food preferences and choices. It is clear that responses to sensory properties are subject not just to variations in perceptual sensitivity due to genetics or experience-as in the case of widely rejected qualities such as bitterness or pungency-but also to the arousal potential of those stimuli. Moreover, this is linked to various enduring aspects of personality, suggesting that the impact of arousal on food choices is merely one aspect of a more general sensory sensitivity. The impact of diet on various health outcomes underlines the importance of understanding the relationship of arousal to food choices. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sensing and feeling: an integrative approach to sensory processing and emotional experience'.

Early Conceptual Knowledge About Food

AbstractRecent research suggests that preschool (three- to six-years-old) children’s food cognition involves much more than the nutritional information usually conveyed by traditional food education programs. This review aims at collecting the empirical evidence documenting the richness of preschoolers’ conceptual knowledge about food. After introducing the relevance of the topic in the context of the research in early food rejection dispositions (Sect. 1), we draw from empirical contributions to propose the first classification of food knowledge in the field, which includes taxonomic (2.1.), relational (2.2.), and value-laden food knowledge (2.3.). Finally, in Sect. 3, we highlight some theoretical shortcomings of extant literature, suggesting that the account of food knowledge we propose could be employed to develop more effective educational strategies that mitigate early food rejection behaviors (e.g., food neophobia).Early conceptual knowledge about food.

Why do patients refuse hospital meals? Reflections on the nutritionDay Audit at the University Hospital in Krakow.

I n t r o d u c t i o n: Despite increased awareness of malnutrition and improved nutrition-related policies, there are still cases of deterioration of nutritional status during hospitalisation. NutritionDay is an audit organised by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN), the Medical University of Vienna and the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) to prevent the onset of malnutrition and to improve hospital policies to deal with this problem. The aim of the study was to analyse the results of the audit with regard to factors that may contribute to the deterioration of a patients' nutritional status in hospital setting. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in a tertiary teaching hospital and was part of an international audit. The questionnaires used were provided by the nutritionDay office, and included information on weight loss, patients' appetite, dietary restrictions, food intake and reasons for food rejection during hospital stay. R e s u l t s: Of the examined patients, 61% reported weight loss prior to the current hospital stay. We identified 25 patients who did not consume a whole portion of their main meal on the day the audit took place. Approximately 17% of the patients' complaints could be resolved within a hospital ward. C o n c l u s i o n s: Hospital patients often eat less than a standard meal portion. Identifying the reasons for meal rejection may be helpful for development of standards for nutritional care in the hospitals.

FOOD SELECTIVITY IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: A CASE STUDY

“Food selectivity” describes quite different food situations and behaviours: food rejection, limited food repertoire, and high-frequency single food intake; that is, it is an atypical complex behaviour that also has a great impact on caregivers and leads children to discriminate foods based on different parameters (shape, colour, texture, presentation, temperature, etc.) and affects 30% of the general pediatric population and more than 70% of those with autism. In this paper, the authors implement an ABA intervention with a seven-year-old boy with autism who ate only a few foods, all with a liquid or semi-liquid consistency (milk with biscuits or yoghurt), while rejecting all other foods offered.

다문화 청소년의 정서적 적응에 관한 연구

This study aims to examine the difficulties of emotional adaptation experienced by multicultural youth that are rapidly increasing in Korean society and to help solve them.
 Methods: This study will examine the various emotional difficulties they face through the three narratives of the characters in Daniel's book. We will also seek solutions to the emotional difficulties of multicultural youth through the convergent application of literary therapy (narrative therapy) methods, Gadamer's hermeneutic methods, and hermeneutic phenomenology with psychological emotions.
 Results: The food rejection and the king's test narrative in Danielle 1 was related to self-positivity and optimism emotions also related to stress and health. Azariah's prayer narrative overcame the fear of death by healthy emotional resources such as 'high spirituality and resilience, self-regulation and persistence'. Susana's narrative showed that even in high-stress or hopeless trauma situations, people with healthy emotions bring post-traumatic growth, and post-traumatic growth is a virtuous cycle of more desirable emotional adaptation.
 Conclusions: The various techniques of hermeneutic application of Daniel's narrative will help multicultural youth find their own solutions and self-understanding of the emotional difficulties they face entering Korean society today.

Parents' Knowledge and Skills in Feeding, Children's Response to Feeding on the Nutritional Status of Toddlers with Malnutrition Problems

Malnutrition, notably stunting, significantly impacts children's health and development, particularly during the first 1000 days of life. The prevalence of stunting in Indonesia is notably high, affecting approximately 30% of children under five in 2019, with Kediri Regency reporting a prevalence rate of 10.23% in 2022. The aim of this research is to analyze the influence of parental knowledge and skills in improving nutritional status as well as children's responses to feeding on the nutritional status of children with malnutrition problems. The research design used in this research is a pre-experimental one group pre-test post-test design. The sampling technique was total sampling with respondents in this study being 22 underprivileged families with toddlers who had nutritional problems and stunting in the Gempolan Village area. The problem of malnutrition in toddlers is quite high with an average Z Score of -2.42 (BB/U), -2.46 (TB/U), and -1.53 (BB/TB). Pre-test data on parents' knowledge and ability to fulfill children's nutrition shows that 68% have fairly good knowledge and skills and only 9% have good knowledge and skills. In this study, 50% of respondents had a fairly good response to feeding. The data highlights a significant problem of malnutrition in toddlers, characterized by low Z-Scores indicating undernutrition and growth stunting. These low Z-Scores pose substantial health risks, including compromised growth, weakened immunity, and potential long-term health issues. Parental knowledge and skills in nutrition are crucial, with most parents having reasonable knowledge levels. However, feeding problems persist, contributing to food rejection by children, exacerbating malnutrition.

The influence of food sensory properties on eating behaviours in children with Down syndrome

Developing new food products for children is challenging, particularly in vulnerable groups including children with Down syndrome (DS). Focusing on children with DS, the aim of this study was to study the influence of parent liking on acceptance of food products by children with DS and demonstrate the influence of food sensory properties on indicators of food acceptance, food rejection, and challenging eating behaviours. Children (ages 1158 months) with DS (n = 111) participated in a home use test evaluating snack products with varying sensory properties as profiled by a trained sensory panel. Parents recorded their children’s reactions to each food product; trained coders coded videos for eating behaviours. To understand the influence of each sensory modality on eating behaviour, ordered probit regression models were run. Results found a significant correlation between the parent liking and overall child disposition to the food (p < 0.05). From the regression analysis, the inclusion of all food sensory properties, including texture, flavour, taste, product shape and size, improved the percentage of variance explained in child mealtime behaviours and overall disposition over the base model (containing no sensory modalities), with texture having the largest influence. Overstuffing the mouth, a challenging eating behaviour, was most influenced by product texture (children ≥ 30 months), and product texture and size (children < 30 months). In both age groups, coughing/choking/gagging was most influenced by food texture and was associated with a product that was grainy and angular (sharp corners). In both age groups, product acceptance was associated with a product that was dissolvable, crispy, and savoury while rejection was associated with a dense, gummy and fruity product. These results suggest that a dissolvable, crispy texture, with a cheesy or buttery flavour are the sensory properties important in a desirable flavoured commercial snack product for children with DS; however, overall disposition must be balanced against mouth overstuffing.

Food rejection and the relation with category-based induction and memory in young children

BackgroundChildhood rejection of fruits and vegetables (F/V) has been associated with an immature food categorization system, characterized by difficulties in accurately categorizing and making inductions about foods. This may result in variations in the kind of category-based induction children use, such as relying on the color of a fruit/vegetable. Research indicates that children who reject food frequently tend to prioritize perceptual features like color and shape over abstract features, such as the type of food (e.g., tomato) when making food-related inductions. The way children categorize food can also impact what they remember about foods. Food rejection may therefore be related to better memory for perceptual features and diminished memory for abstract features. To explore this further, a pre-registered study was conducted to examine how category-based induction and memory relate to each other, and to children's food rejection. Methods107 children aged 4–6 years old performed a category-based induction and memory task related to F/V, based on color and shape (perceptual features), and type of food (abstract feature). A vegetable photo task measured vegetable acceptance, and parents completed the Child Food Rejection Scale (CFRS). ResultsChildren generally used color-based induction and displayed better memory for F/V color. Performance on the two tasks was related: higher type-based induction for F/V was linked to better memory for the type of F/V. However, there were no associations found with food rejection. ConclusionWhich category young children use for inductive reasoning about food, is related to what they remember best about food. Nevertheless, our study did not establish a relationship between an immature food categorization system and food rejection. Other factors, such as food familiarity, might play a stronger role in children's food acceptance.

Food rejection is associated with affective response to textures in three-year-old children

Food rejection is associated with affective response to textures in three-year-old children

Child-reported vegetable neophobia is associated with risk avoidance for distaste in children aged 4–15 years

Children who are food neophobic and/or picky eaters often refuse intake of especially fruits and vegetables, thereby narrowing their dietary variety and impairing the quality of their food intake. In this preregistered study, we investigated whether picky eating and food neophobia are related to bitter taste sensitivity (PROP taster status) and risk avoidance for distaste. A total of 367 children (201 girls; M age = 8.7 years, range: 4–15 years) participated in the study. They completed the vegetable neophobia subscale of the fruit and vegetable neophobia instrument (FVNI). A caregiver completed the child food rejection scale (CFRS), a parent-report measure of food neophobia and picky eating. Children's bitter taste sensitivity was measured with a PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) taste strip, and the children completed a modified Children's Gambling Task (Candy Gambling Game) to measure risk avoidance for distaste. In this task, children could select cards from a risky deck (chance of winning two tasty cherry-flavoured jelly beans, but also the risk of getting a distasteful soap-flavoured jelly bean) or a safe deck (chance of winning one tasty jelly bean or no jelly bean). The results show that picky eating and food neophobia (either parent- or self-reported) are not related to PROP taster status. However, children who self-reported higher levels of vegetable neophobia showed less risky choice behaviour in the Candy Gambling Game, although this relationship was not found with parent-reported food neophobia. We conclude that risk avoidance for distaste, but not taste function, is associated with children's self-reported food rejection tendencies. To broaden the food repertoire of children high in food neophobia, it might be useful to reduce the perceived risk of distaste, when introducing a novel food or meal.

Potential blindness from nutritional xerophthalmia in autistic patients

Vitamin A is vital to retinal rod function and epithelial cell differentiation. Although uncommon in the developed world, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) secondary to poor diets or gastrointestinal disease has been reported and can lead to xerophthalmia, which is characterized by night blindness and a spectrum of ocular surface changes. Patients with autism spectrum disorder have been shown to have restrictive diets secondary to sensory issues leading to rejection of foods except for those of certain color or texture. We present a case series of 6 pediatric patients with autism who developed varying degrees of xerophthalmia due to VAD, which resulted from restrictive eating. All patients presented with a history of eye irritation that was not relieved by antibiotic or allergy eye drops. Further questioning revealed they had restrictive diets consisting of only or mostly white and tan foods, and serum vitamin A testing confirmed severe VAD. Most stages of xerophthalmia were completely reversed with vitamin A supplementation, but in 2 patients more advanced xerophthalmia resulted in irreversible blindness and ocular damage. Both pediatricians and pediatric eye care providers must be vigilant for VAD as an etiology of eye irritation, photophobia, or new-onset visual impairment in autistic children. A review of the child's diet must be implemented as a standard part of routine history taken in this vulnerable population. Early identification and vitamin A supplementation can prevent irreversible ocular compromise and vision loss.

AYURVEDIC RECIPES AS NUTRITIOUS PATHYA FOR CHILDREN: A REVIEW

Any individual's nutrient requirements are based on age, gender, and activity. With developing age, the child shows many changes. Their association with food assumes a varied spectrum to the extent of acceptance, rejection, or selection of food. But good nutrition remains fundamental to the child's physical and mental growth and development. The media exposure to tempting eatables sold in packets like wafers, etc., is the primary factor for the wrong selection of food habits. In children, the matter of concern is the quality of food. So, it is essential for some adequate supervision for the selection of food and healthy eating for preventing and postponing nutrition-related chronic diseases. There is a vast description of healthy and nutritious food in Ayurveda, with easy methods of preparation making it more acceptable in children. Pathya and apathya are used to denote the acceptability and adaptability of a particular food. Accepting that children are picky in taking food, a slight modification can make it more acceptable. The pathya kalpana is like krushara (kichidi), misraodana (boiled rice), and krutta mudga yusha (soup prepared with pulses.) yavagu (gruel) etc., are not only nutritious but also act as agni deepaka (appetizer) ruchya, (improves taste perception) balya, (promotes strength) tarpaka, (nourishing), vatanulomaka (carminative). These ahara kalpana helps restore agni's normal functioning to digest food properly and give essential nutrition to the body. So, this is an attempt to put light on Ayurvedic recipes such as nutritious food for the growth and development of children.

High arousal as the source of food rejection in food neophobia

Food neophobia (FN) at moderate to high levels is very common among adult populations in all cultures and is usually defined in terms of rejection of unfamiliar foods. However, food rejection in FN is only partly related to food familiarity. Experimental and survey studies have suggested that unpleasantly high arousal may be induced by food novelty, but also be produced by foods with intense or complex flavours, that are perceived as dangerous or foreign, or that have unusual ingredients. Liking for foods with these characteristics have recently been shown to be strongly negatively associated with FN. Thus, induced high arousal may underlie food rejection in FN. Here, we collected familiarity, liking and arousal ratings, and scores on the standard Food Neophobia Scale from more than 7000 consumers in four countries – Australia, United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia – for a series of food names that were manipulated to produce standard and ‘high arousal’ (variant) versions of the same foods. Consistent across all four countries, arousal ratings increased, and liking decreased, with decreases in food familiarity. Variant food names were always associated with ratings of higher arousal than the standard names. The variant foods were generally less familiar than the standard foods, although this was not a necessary condition for their higher arousal ratings, suggesting that the other arousal-inducing factors (e.g., flavour intensity) also played a role. Across all foods, arousal ratings increased, and liking ratings decreased, as FN increased, but these effects were accentuated for the variant foods. The consistency of these effects across multiple countries supports a view that arousal is universally a strong determinant of liking for foods and that this underlies the rejection of foods, familiar and novel, in FN.

YETİŞKİNLERDE BESİN TİKSİNME DUYARLILIĞININ İNCELENMESİ VE YEME DAVRANIŞLARI İLE İLİŞKİSİNİN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine food disgust sensitivity and assess the relationship between food disgust sensitivity and eating behaviours in adults. &#x0D; Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study, 215 adults were recruited and face-to-face interviews were used to gather data on the demographic information, Food Disgust Scale-short (FDS-short), Adult Picky Eating Questionnaire, and items involving rejection based on texture. Also, anthropometric measurements were taken.&#x0D; Results: The mean food disgust sensitivity short, adult picky eating questionnaire and texture-based rejection scores of participants were found to be 3.549 ± 0.745, 2.316 ± 0.472, 1.190 ± 0.782, respectively. Income and body mass index were negatively correlated with food disgust sensitivity, although age was positively. People with high food disgust sensitivity were pickier eaters and rejected foods with certain textures more often than those with low scores. &#x0D; Conclusion: Individuals' food disgust sensitivity should be considered as an important factor influencing picky eating or food rejection.