Children's preferences for foods with particles are lowest at age six and increase significantly with age, according to a study examining texture preferences in children aged 5 to 12 years.

The study, published in the Journal of Texture Studies, involved 485 children who completed a forced-choice questionnaire and participated in a taste test to assess their preferences for foods with and without particles. It found that children's texture preferences evolve with age, likely influenced by increased exposure and experience with various food textures.

On average, only 28% of children selected foods with particles, which is significantly lower than the 50% midpoint (P < .0001). Preferences for particle-containing foods were lowest at age six and showed a significant increase with age (P = .0007).

In the taste test, children evaluated yogurts with muesli particles of different sizes (3.9 mm and 7.5 mm). The size of muesli particles significantly influenced children's oral size perception (P < .0001) but did not affect their liking of the yogurt (P = .60). Older children were more adept at differentiating particle sizes compared to younger children.

Additionally, the Pearson correlation results indicated no significant association between children's perception of particle size and their liking of the samples (small particles: r = −.05, p = .39; large particles: r = .06, p = .25).

Full disclosures can be found in the published study.