Adults have a preference for natural foods, grown on land. Several studies have already confirmed this trend. However, none had analyzed children’s preference for different types of food, whether natural or processed. The University of Edinburgh and Yale University investigated the food preferences of 374 US adults and children. For this, they developed two studies.
In the first, they interrogated children between the ages of 6 and 10 and adults in their 30s. Three apples produced in different ways were made available and their origin was indicated – one grown on a farm, another in a laboratory and another on a tree within a laboratory. Regardless of age, all participants preferred apples grown in the wild. The freshness of the apple, the fact of being outdoors and receiving sunlight, were the children’s justifications for this choice. The adults, on the other hand, mentioned their naturalness.
In the second study, the children’s ages ranged between 5 and 7 years, and the adults’ average age was 29 years. The researchers provided four orange juices, once again, with information about their origin – one made fresh from oranges harvested on a farm, one whose chemicals had been removed, one with added chemicals and another without any information. The natural option was the preference of the participants.
The results suggest that children, at the beginning and throughout childhood, prefer foods of natural origin. For them, these have more flavor, are more appetizing and are safer.
The authors believe that the belief that natural foods are good begins to be established at 5 years of age – possibly even earlier.
O article was published in the magazine Developmental Psychology.
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