VeggieSense: A non-taste multisensory exposure technique for increasing vegetable acceptance in young children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nutrition
• Sensory Science
• Child Psychology

Background:

• Vegetable intake in UK children is below recommended levels.
• Previous studies show repeated sensory exposure increases vegetable acceptance.
• The impact of single-session, multisensory exposure on children's vegetable acceptance is underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of a one-off multisensory non-taste exposure intervention on children's vegetable tasting and intake.
• To determine if the number of senses engaged during exposure influences vegetable acceptance.
• To assess the efficacy of single-day, fun sensory activities in promoting vegetable consumption.

Main Methods:

• 110 children aged 3-4 years participated in individual sessions at nurseries.
• Children were assigned to control (visual non-food items) or intervention groups (visual; smell and visual; smell, touch, and visual exposure to vegetables).
• Willingness to taste and intake of six raw and prepared vegetables were measured post-intervention.

Main Results:

• All sensory exposure groups showed increased willingness to taste and intake vegetables compared to the control.
• A linear trend was observed: higher acceptance correlated with more senses engaged during exposure.
• The smell, touch, and visual exposure group demonstrated the highest vegetable acceptance.

Conclusions:

• Single-session multisensory exposure interventions effectively increase young children's vegetable acceptance.
• The positive effect of sensory exposure on healthy food consumption appears cumulative, with more senses engaged leading to better outcomes.
• Findings support using multisensory approaches to improve vegetable intake in early childhood.