Not ALL Children LOVE Sugary, Salty, Fatty Foods

Think ALL children are predisposed to preferring foods with sugar, salt and fat? Think again.

New Research shows:

• German and Spanish kids are twice as likely to prefer high fat foods than kids in Cyprus and Belgium.
• Hungarian, Spanish and Estonian children have a preference for fat, salt and umami (savory), espcially when compared to Swedish, Belgium and Italian children.
• German children are less likely to prefer sweet juice than Swedish, Italian and Hungarian children.

Want to know something else?

Country was the strongest predictor of taste preference.

That means, culture impacts taste preferences more than: 

• Breastfeeding vs formula
• Age at which fruit is introduced
• Television viewing
• Whether or not parents use food as a reward
• Taste sensitivity

Want to know something else?

There are kids who aren't familiar with apple juice.

The researchers couldn't test the sweet preferences of the children in Cyprus because these kids were unfamiliar with apple juice (and the researchers wanted to use a standard sweet medium across the study).

How'd they do it?

Researchers maniuplated the level of sugar in apple juice, and the level of salt, fat and umami in crackers. Then, 1705 six to nine year old children were given paired tastings and asked to indicate which of the pair they liked best.

The study was conducted in Italy, Estonia, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Hungary and Spain.

You don’t need to move across the world to solve a picky-eating problem. You just have to establish a foreign culture at home.

Forget about feeding the American way, and start seriously rethinking what, when and why you offer the foods that you do.  Read Food Culture and What It Means to be "Child-Friendly."

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Source: Lanfer, A., K. Bammann, K. Knof, K. Buchecker, P. Russo, T. Veidebaum, Y. Kourides, S. de Henauw, D. Molnar, S. Bel-Serrat, L. Lissner, and W. Ahrens. 2013. “Predictors and Correlates of Taste Preferences in European Children: the IDEFICS Study.” Food Quality and Preference 27: 128-36.

Crackers & Juice, Chips & Soda

Want your kids to eat vegetables? Serve fewer salty snacks.

Here's the logic. Research shows that:

• Kids eat fewer vegetables when they drink sweetened beverages.
• Kids drink more sweetened beverages when they eat salty snacks.

Therefore, if you serve fewer salty snacks, your kids will drink fewer sugary beverages and, presto, they'll start eating more vegetables.

OK. It might not work that smoothly, but it's something to consider the next time you hand your toddler a bag of Goldfish crackers and an apple juice. 

• Goldfish have more sodium than some chips—Read Salt: The New Fat
• In terms of sugar, apple juice is up there with Coke—Read Coke Beats Juice.

I've written about the relationship between vegetable-eating and drinking sweetened beverages before.

Here's a refresher: Even after consuming only a small amount of the sweetened drink, the children were relatively disinterested in eating vegetables. 

Read about this study in Water vs. Punch and Soda.

Now, an Australian team has found that kids are more likely to seek out sugary drinks when they eat salty foods. 

Two findings, one obvious and one not so obvious:

• The more dietary salt a child has, the higher their fluid intake. (That's the no-brainer.)
• The more salt a child consumes, the greater their consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages.

Click here to read the article that recently appeared in Pediatrics.

Explanation 1

• Eating salty food makes people thirsty. 
• Thirsty people drink more. 
• Thirsty people who are used to sugary beverages drink more sugary beverages.

Explanation 2 

• People who drink sugar sweetened beverages often eat other unhealthy foods. Think hamburger, fries and a soda. It's a clustering effect. 

Explanation 3

• Kids who eat foods high in sugar, salt and fat—the basic “Child-friendly”  diet—end up seeking out these kinds foods in order to achieve a “flavor-hit.”  They’re going for the high!

I wrote about this in the post Toddler Used to Eat Vegetables.

Other things you should know about salt and sugary beverages from this study: 

• Salt intake increases with age.
• Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages increases with age.
• 62% of Australian children consume sugar-sweetened beverages; 80% of American children do.
• Children who consume more than one sugar-sweetened beverage per day are 26% more likely to be overweight or obese (but only if the kids also aren't exercising).

One more thing...the effects reported here are small, but... 

• Tthe researchers were only looking at the relationship between salty foods and sugary drinks. If they had looked at the whole diet, I believe they would have found the full effect of salty foods on eating habits.
• Kids graduate from crackers to chips, and from juice to soda.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~ 

My Toddler Used to Eat Vegetables

My toddler used to eat vegetables…and then he stopped.

Makes you want to tear your hair out.  I know because I’ve been there.

Actually, we’ve all been there.  We’ve all had our once-happy-veggie-eaters turn into no-I’m-not-gonna-eat-that-and-there’s-nothing-you-can-do monsters.  It’s one of the most common frustrations parents have.

Well, there is something you can do.  Read on.

Many scholars believe toddlers have a natural impulse to reject foods because it keeps them alive.

Here’s the theory:

Toddlers are particularly vulnerable to eating poisonous foods because of two conditions: their newfound mobility frequently puts them out of momma’s protective reach, and they have a natural desire to put things into their mouths. Making toddlers reluctant to eat unfamiliar foods is Mother Nature’s way of solving this problem.  

I don’t buy it. 

1) This theory can’t explain why a child would reject a familiar food; one they've learned is not poisonous; one that’s already been cleared for consumption by mom.

2) Anyone who has ever been around a toddler knows these kids will put anything into their mouths—as long as it seems dangerous, weird, or something that would freak their parents out.  Dirt. Flowers. Legos.  But healthy vegetables? No way.

Here’s what I think (and it’s backed up by research).

Toddlers reject vegetables because other things taste better.

Of course control, developmental and personality issues also play a role. But answer this: How long after your child started eating solids did you switch from plain Cheerios to Honey Nut Cheerios?  

Or start serving up Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal instead of plain oatmeal? 

When did you trade in your child’s plain yogurt for vanilla, blueberry, or those delightful yogurt tubes? Introduce apple juice? Goldfish crackers? Chicken nuggets?

Around the time your child started rejecting vegetables?

Baby Food is bland, and it all—fruits, vegetables, cereals—taste basically the same.  In comparison, toddler food is full of flavor.  In fact, it gives kids a "flavor-hit."

Researchers recently discovered:

Kids who eat foods high in sugar, salt and fat—the basic “Child-friendly”  diet—end up seeking out these kinds foods in order to achieve a “flavor-hit.”  They’re going for the high!

Child-friendly foods may seem bland and boring to you, but these items are loaded with sugar, salt and fat. And kids like them!   Read The Truth About “Child-Friendly” Foods.

That’s probably why the old standby, pasta with butter and parmesan, is such a success:  Think salt and fat.

“Flavor-hit” foods train your kids to like junk (corn chips, not corn; cheese puffs, not cheese, and strawberry ice cream, not strawberries).  "Flavor-hit" foods never taste like broccoli.  (But they do taste like french fries!)

In other words, the basic “child-friendly” toddler diet trains your kids’ taste buds away from vegetables.  

The way to increase vegetable consumption—or to stop the downslide— is to consciously manage the flavors you feed your kids.

Don’t think about nutrients as much as flavors, and don't overload your kids with sugar, salt, and fat.  That was the message in my post Why Toddlers Don’t Eat Vegetables.

The reason is clear: Research shows that when kids eat a diet filled with sugar, salt, and fat they want more of these flavors.  It’s a self-perpetuating cycle, and manufacturers are happy to oblige.

Here are some posts to get you thinking about proportion and flavor:

• Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!
• 10 Ways Improving Your Kids’ Snacking Will Improve YOUR Life. 
• Training Tiny Taste Buds

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

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Source:  Cornwell, T. B. and A. R. McAlister. 2011. “Alternative Thinking About Starting Points in Obesity. Development of Child Taste Preferences.” Appetite 56: 428-39.

Update on July 5, 2011 by Dina Rose

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