Digital Media Use in Association with Sensory Taste Preferences in European Children and Adolescents—Results from the I.Family Study

Abstract

Digital media (DM) influences children’s food choice. We aim to investigate associations between DM use and taste preferences (TP) for sweet, fatty, bitter, and salty in European children and adolescents. Individuals aged 6–17 years (N = 7094) providing cross-sectional data for DM use: television (TV), computer/game console (PC), smartphone and internet, were included. Children (6 to 2 h/day was associated with sweet (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.02–1.57) and fatty preference (OR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.10–1.70). Internet exposure was inversely associated with bitter preference, notably in male adolescents (OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.50–0.84), but positively associated with salty preference (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.02–1.64). DM exposure was associated with sweet, fatty, salty and bitter TP in children and adolescents, serving as the basis for future longitudinal studies to shed light on the underlying mechanism by which DM exposure may determine eating habits.

Keywords

• food preference
• internet
• smartphone
• screen-time
• digital marketing
• I.Family study