14 DAY TRIAL // Experts from the Danish Science Communication and the University of Copenhagen have recently made public some of their findings concerning children's tastes and their ability to “feel” the same products in different ways. The tests have revealed that there are consistent differences between genders in appreciating food's taste, as boys allegedly need more sweet aliments than girls in order to feel the same sweetness in their mouth.
The subjects of the study were 9,000 pupils, boys and girls, who were asked to fill in questionnaires on the foods they liked and disliked. They also had to try different flavors, and appreciate them.
One of the most intriguing results was the fact that, in order to consider some food as being tasty, boys needed more sourness and sweetness than girls, who seem to be quite moderate in their eating habits. The male pupils wanted the food to be 10% more sour, and even 20% sweeter than girls did.
This is among the best news dietitians could give to parents – considering the fact that boys need more sourness or sweetness, it would be easier for food producers to create healthier snacks that would specifically target the youngsters' taste needs.
Still, a major shift in pupils’ food preferences has been registered, occurring around the ages of 13 to 14. That's when they are rather complaining about the poor taste of food, as their sensitivity towards sourness and sweetness is significantly increased.
The same study has made official something that had been long known – school children consume lots of soft drinks and sweets, as almost half of the subjects “voted” the drinks with the highest amount of sugar as the most tasteful.
As the number of obese children is constantly increasing, the results of this study should serve in finding other alternatives to the junk food ingested by youngsters.