title: Efficacy of repeated exposure and flavour-flavour learning as mechanisms to increase preschooler's vegetable intake and acceptance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dutch children's diets, like the diets of many children in Europe and the US are not balanced, do not contain enough vegetables and have been associated with a high prevalence of childhood obesity. Promoting children's vegetable intake is challenging.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the relative effectiveness of repeated exposure and flavour-flavour learning in increasing vegetable intake and acceptance in preschoolers.
  
  
  METHODS
  During an intervention period of 7 weeks, 39 toddlers (aged 1.5 to 4 years) consumed red beet and parsnip crisps at day-care centres in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Half of the group received red beet crisps with a dip of tomato ketchup (Conditioned [C]) and parsnip with a neutral white sauce (Unconditioned, [UC]), whereas for the other half the order was reversed (red beet [UC], parsnip [C]). Preference and ad libitum consumption of vegetable crisps were measured once before and three times after the intervention over the course of a 6-month follow-up period to assess longer-term effects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intake increased significantly after the intervention for both vegetables (on average with 8 g; an increase of approximately 300%), and this effect was persistent even 6 months afterwards. The increase was irrespective of crisps being offered with C or UC dip sauce.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest a robust and persistent effect of repeated exposure but no effect of flavour-flavour learning. Offering pure vegetable tastes repeatedly is sufficient to increase intake.
authors.affiliation: Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: de Wild
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Graaf
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jager
mesh_terms: D001245:Association Learning; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012578:Schools, Nursery; D013649:Taste; D014675:Vegetables
keywords: Exposure; FFL; preschoolers; vegetable liking and intake