Taste Preferences, Food Choice and Body Composition in 8-10 Year Old Children in Wellington

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity has now reached pandemic proportions, and research is essential to further understand its determinants and health outcomes. One lesser-studied topic in preadolescent children is the outcomes of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) tasting status, an inherited tasting ability. Tasters have greater perceptions of basic tastes, appearing to influence food liking and food choice, which is important in terms of body composition and health status. Objective: The overall aim was to examine taste preferences (as measured by PROP tasting status), and to investigate differences between taster groups in terms of food choice, liking of various foods, and body composition in a sample of 8-10 year old children from Wellington. The specific research objectives were to determine: (i) if more tasters report liking certain types of food more than non-tasters, (ii) if more tasters self-report consuming certain types of food more than non-tasters, and (iii) if tasters are more likely to have a healthier body composition. Design: This thesis topic is part of a wider cross-sectional study called the Pre-Adolescent Metabolic Associations and Correlates (PACMAC) study. The study uses previously validated, broadly applicable research tools suitable for use in large-scale epidemiological studies. Assessment data for this thesis was collected with the use of self-completed (in partnership with parent or guardian) demographic and nutrition questionnaires, a simple taste strip test, and body composition analyses. The body composition measures included height, weight, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, body mass index and bioelectrical impedance analysis. Results: The data in this thesis was collected from the first 34 PACMAC participants in Wellington. Tasters accounted for 58.8% of the group (n=20). Tasters had an average of 20.7% body fat compared to 27.3% for non-tasters (p=0.03), indicating that being a taster may affect body composition. There were no significant differences between body weight, body mass index (BMI), or waist ratios, nor were there differences for food liking (except for sweet corn, which was preferred by non-tasters) or food choice between taster groups. Conclusion: These preliminary findings suggest that PROP tasting status is related to body composition. However, the participants did not report differences in liking or consumption of various groups. This finding may be attributable to the limited sample size for this preliminary study. Completion of the PACMAC study (n=400) will enable further investigation to this promising line of research.