The Good Tastes Study: Young Children's Food Acceptance Patterns
Condition: Food Neophobia; Parenting
MeSH terms: Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      Children begin developing food acceptance and preferences during the first years of life,
      especially through repeated exposure and increased familiarity. Caregivers pay attention to
      the amounts of food that their children consume, and they also are sensitive to when their
      refuses to eat what is offered. This study will examine the interactions between caregivers
      and their infants when bitter vegetables are introduced to infants and toddlers. The goals
      for this study are to:

        1. understand if masking bitterness with very low levels of sugar or salt may facilitate
           whether infants accept new vegetables;

        2. understand if masking bitterness impacts caregivers' perceptions of infants' acceptance
           of new vegetables; and

        3. understand the stress levels experienced by infants and caregivers throughout this
           process.
    

Detailed description: 
      During a single visit, four versions of a kale puree will be made with 1) no added sugar or
      sodium; 2) 1.2% added sugar; 3) 1.8% added sugar; and 4) 0.2% added sodium to mask
      bitterness. First, a familiar food will be offered to provide baseline data. Then each of the
      four versions of the novel kale puree will be offered to the infant by their caregiver, and
      the order the kale versions are presented will be randomized. The salt version will always be
      offered last to control for the effects of a very different taste exposure (salt vs. sweet)
      and to try to avoid any significant carryover effects of salt taste on sweet perception.
      Feeding interactions will be video recorded for behavioral coding of infant responses to each
      bite. Additionally, infant and caregiver heart rate and skin conductance will be monitored to
      assess physiological responses in each participant throughout the feeding interaction.

      Several measures will be observed in order to test predictors of infant food acceptance,
      caregiver perceptions of infants' responses, and physiological responses in infants and
      caregivers. These include:

        -  Demographic measures

        -  Observed caregiver height and weight

        -  Observed infant length and weight

        -  Child developmental stage using Ages and Stages screening tool

        -  Caregiver neophobia

        -  Caregiver preferences for and intake of fruits and vegetables

        -  Infant feeding history and food experience

        -  Eating behaviors using the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire for Toddlers

        -  Infant behavior using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (Garstein & Rothbart
           2003 Infant Behav Dev)

        -  Caregiver feeding persistence
    

Observational model: Case-Only
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Infants and caregivers who live in the Denver area will be recruited using advertising
        flyers, emails sent through a university listserv and parent email distribution, and word
        of mouth.
      
Keywords: Infant Feeding; Toddler Feeding; Complementary Feeding; Food Acceptance; Parenting