Table 1.
Characteristics of the study sample (total numbers and percentages).
| Girls | Boys | |
|---|---|---|
| N (%) | 46 (55.4%) | 37 (44.6%) |
| Age (years)a | 9.8 (8.8;10.1) | 9.9 (9.4;10.4) |
| BMI z-scorea,b | 0.1 (−0.4; 0.9) | 0.1 (−0.7; 1.0) |
| Overweight/obesec | 6 (13.0) | 5 (13.5) |
| Number of fungiform papillaea | 29.3 (23.0; 35.0) | 28.5 (24.0; 34.0) |
| Bitter taste thresholdd | ||
| Threshold 1 (0.26 mmol caffeine/la) | 8 (23.5) | 3 (13.6) |
| Threshold 2 (0.51 mmol caffeine/la) | 12 (35.3) | 5 (22.7) |
| Threshold 3 (0.77 mmol caffeine/la) | 6 (17.7) | 4 (18.2) |
| Threshold 4 (1.03 mmol caffeine/la) | 5 (14.7) | 1 (4.6) |
| Threshold 5 (1.29 mmol caffeine/la) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (13.6) |
| Non taster | 3 (8.8) | 6 (27.3) |
| Taste preferencesd | ||
| High sweet preferencee | 15 (44.1) | 9 (39.1) |
| High salt preferencee | 24 (68.6) | 14 (63.6) |
| High umami preferencee | 14 (40.0) | 7 (31.8) |
| High fat preferencee | 15 (42.9) | 6 (27.3) |
Abbreviations: BMI z-score, Body Mass Index z-score.
aNumbers are median with interquartile range.
bBMI z-scores according to Cole et al. [14].
cBMI cutoffs according to Cole et al. [15]
dSensory tests conducted in a subsample of n = 56 children.
ePreference for the food sample with the added ingredient over the basic food sample.