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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Western Human Nutrition Research Center » Obesity and Metabolism Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #322133

Title: Initial implicit association between whole grains and taste does not predict consumption of whole grains in low-whole grain consumers: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Author
item DE LEON, ANGELA - University Of California
item BURNETT, DUSTIN - University Of California
item RUST, BRET - University Of California, Davis
item LYLY, MARIKA - Vaasan
item Keim, Nancy

Submitted to: Frontiers in Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/13/2024
Publication Date: 9/30/2024
Citation: De Leon, A., Burnett, D., Rust, B., Lyly, M., Keim, N.L. 2024. Initial implicit association between whole grains and taste does not predict consumption of whole grains in low-whole grain consumers: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Nutrition. 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1408256.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1408256

Interpretive Summary: The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that individuals consume at least 3 servings of whole grain products per day, yet despite increased variety, availability, and promotion of these products, WG consumption in the US remains below this recommendation. This study used the Implicit Association Test, which is a means to measure the automatic attitudes between whole grain foods and taste, in order to determine if having healthy people eat whole grains for a period of six weeks would increase the association between whole grains and good taste. Our results revealed that there was a positive shift in attitude towards whole grains tasting good in those people who initially associated whole grains with negative taste. This suggests that repeated consumption of whole grain products over an extended period of time in a free living situation can improve automatic attitudes toward whole grains and may result in increased consumption.

Technical Abstract: The health benefits of whole grain (WG) consumption are well documented. Current Dietary Guidelines recommend that individuals consume = 3 servings per day. Despite increased variety, availability, and promotion of WG products, consumption of WG in the US remains low, with Americans in all age groups consuming less than one serving of WG per day. Healthy adults (n=45) were provided weekly market baskets of a variety of WG products in recommended amounts for home use. We hypothesized that exposure to WG foods would change implicit associations between WG and taste. Intake was measured by calculating disappearance and verified by a daily log. Administered at baseline and at the end of the 6-week intervention, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a computerized paradigm that measures indirectly the strength of association between pairs of concepts: (a) two contrasted target categories (WG and refined grain (RG) food images) and (b) two contrasted attribute categories (pleasant words and unpleasant words relating to taste) via a classification task. Participants rapidly classify stimuli representing target and attribute into categories. Response time (milliseconds) was used to calculate IAT D scores. Paired t-tests showed that average D scores at the end of the study showed a significant positive shift in implicit attitude towards WG (p<0.05) in those who initially associated WG with negative taste. This suggests that mere exposure to WG products over an extended period of time in a free living situation can improve automatic attitudes toward WG and may result in increased consumption.