Children's liking and wanting of foods vary over multiple bites/sips of consumption: A case study of food products containing wild blueberry powder in the amounts targeted to deliver bioactive phytonutrients for children

Authors: SEO, HAN-SEOK - University Of Arkansas; Adams, Sean; HOWARD, LUKE - University Of Arkansas; BROWNMILLER, CINDY - University Of Arkansas; HOGAN, VICTORIA - University Of Arkansas; CHEN, JIN-RAN - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS); PRAMUDYA, RAGITA - University Of Arkansas

Submitted to: Food Research International
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/4/2020
Publication Date: 1/7/2020
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/6807807
Citation: Seo, H., Adams, S.H., Howard, L., Brownmiller, C., Hogan, V., Chen, J., Pramudya, R.C. 2020. Children's liking and wanting of foods vary over multiple bites/sips of consumption: A case study of food products containing wild blueberry powder in the amounts targeted to deliver bioactive phytonutrients for children. Food Research International. 131: 108981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2020.108981.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2020.108981

Interpretive Summary: A diet rich in fruits and vegetables conveys important health benefits to children and adults, and this dietary pattern can be achieved by incorporating certain foods such as nutrient-rich wild blueberries. To encourage children to consume blueberries as part of their diet, adding blueberry powder into specific foods may be an effective strategy. It is thus important to determine appropriate types of food products that both minimize food processing-induced loss of beneficial components of blueberries (e.g., anthocyanins) and provide children with sensory pleasure. For clinical studies related to assessing the health benefits of the blueberry-containing food products, it would be important to ensure children consume the entire portion of the test products. This study, therefore, aimed at determining how sensory acceptability (liking) and psychological reward (wanting) of wild blueberry-based foods products vary over multiple steps of blueberry-containing food consumption: appearance, first bite/sip, half bite/sip, and full consumption. Five different types of foods containing wild blueberry powder were prepared for sensory testing (oatmeal bar, beverage, ice pop, gummy, and cookie), and the residual amounts of total anthocyanin and chlorogenic acid were measured to confirm levels targeted to deliver bioactive amounts of these phytochemicals that are known to promote health and function. Results showed that while overall liking and desire to eat did not differ among the five products at the appearance and first bite/sip steps, they differed significantly by the end of consumption of any given serving. Although children liked and wanted to consume the cookies more when compared to beverages, ice pops, and/or gummies, total anthocyanin contents were lower in cookies and gummies than in wild blueberry powder, beverage, and ice pop samples. Notably, the oatmeal bars with significant amounts of total anthocyanin and chlorogenic acid did not significantly differ from the cookies with respect to overall liking, desire to eat, and the amount consumed. In conclusion, this study shows that sensory evaluation using multiple bites/sips of ad libitum food consumption, along with a measurement of beneficial compounds, is efficient in determining appropriate vehicles for clinical studies or consumer foods testing of wild blueberry-containing products. The results indicate that select foods can be readily prepared that deliver healthy blueberry components while being liked and wanted by children, and so these foods can be considered in developing high-quality diets that children will eat under "real world" conditions.

Technical Abstract: To encourage children to frequently consume wild blueberries as part of their dietary patterns, incorporating blueberry powder into specific foods may be an effective strategy. It is thus important to determine appropriate types of food products that both minimize food processing-induced loss of beneficial components of blueberries (e.g., anthocyanins) and provide children with sensory pleasure. For clinical studies assessing the health benefits of blueberry-containing food products, it would be important to ensure children consume the entire portion of the test products. This study, therefore, aimed at determining how sensory acceptability (liking) and psychological reward (wanting) of wild blueberry-based foods vary over multiple steps of ad libitum consumption: appearance, first bite/sip, half bite/sip, and full consumption. Five different types of foods containing the targeted amount of wild blueberry powder were prepared for sensory testing (oatmeal bar, beverage, ice pop, gummy, and cookie), and the residual amounts of total anthocyanin and chlorogenic acid were measured to confirm levels targeted to deliver bioactive amounts of these phytochemicals. Results showed that while overall liking and desire to eat did not differ among the five products at the appearance and first bite/sip steps, they differed significantly at the end of consumption. Although children liked and wanted to consume the cookies more when compared to beverages, ice pops, and/or gummies, total anthocyanin contents were lower in cookies and gummies than in wild blueberry powder, beverage, and ice pop samples. Notably, the oatmeal bars with significant amounts of total anthocyanin and chlorogenic acid did not significantly differ from the cookies with respect to overall liking, desire to eat, and the amount consumed. In conclusion, this study shows that sensory evaluation using multiple bites/sips of ad libitum food consumption, along with a measurement of beneficial compounds, is efficient in determining appropriate vehicles for clinical studies of wild blueberry-containing products.