Health agencies advocate reducing children's sweetness exposure to lower sweetness preference or liking to ultimately lower sugar intake. However, the relationship between sweetness exposure, preference, and liking remains unclear. This work investigated the influence of exposure to a sucrose-containing sweet or sour-tasting drink on sweetness preference and liking for sweet and sour products in 4-7-year-old children (n = 65). The children were randomized into three groups with one daily exposure to either the sweet drink, sour drink, or water (control group) for 14 days. Sweetness preference was assessed at baseline (t1), day 15 (t2), and two months after the intervention (t3), using a forced-choice, paired comparison test with five beverages varying in sweetness intensity. Hedonic liking for the intervention drinks, a sweet and sour yogurt, and a sweet and sour candy was evaluated using a 5-point pictorial scale. Linear mixed models revealed a significant increase in sweetness preference from t1 to t3 (F(2) = 7.46, p < 0.001). However, ANCOVA analysis indicated that this effect was not caused by the intervention. Based on linear mixed models, we observed that children's hedonic liking for sweet and sour products remained stable from t1 to t3 and was not influenced by the intervention. These findings suggest that 14 exposures to a sucrose-containing sweet or sour-tasting drink did not affect sweetness preference or liking in 4-7-year-old children.

中文翻译：

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酸甜可口：反复接触甜味或酸味含糖饮料不会影响儿童的甜味偏好和喜好

卫生机构主张减少儿童对甜味的接触，以达到较低的甜味偏好或最终降低糖的摄入量。然而，甜味暴露、偏好和喜好之间的关系仍不清楚。这项研究调查了接触含蔗糖的甜味或酸味饮料对 4-7 岁儿童（n = 65）的甜味偏好和对糖醋产品的喜好的影响。孩子们被随机分为三组，每天一组接触甜饮料、酸饮料或水（对照组），持续 14 天。在基线 (t1)、第 15 天 (t2) 和干预后两个月 (t3) 评估甜味偏好，使用强制选择、配对比较测试对五种不同甜味强度的饮料进行评估。使用 5 分制图像评分法评估干预饮料、酸甜酸奶和酸甜糖果的享乐喜好。线性混合模型显示，从 t1 到 t3，甜味偏好显着增加（F(2) = 7.46，p < 0.001）。然而，ANCOVA 分析表明这种效应不是由干预引起的。基于线性混合模型，我们观察到儿童对糖醋产品的享乐喜好在t1到t3期间保持稳定，并且不受干预的影响。这些研究结果表明，14 次接触含蔗糖的甜味或酸味饮料不会影响 4-7 岁儿童的甜味偏好或喜好。