Olfactory performance and odor liking are negatively associated with food neophobia in children aged between 3 and 9 years

Abstract Background Child food neophobia, i.e., rejection or avoidance of novel foods at a young age, is a prevalent nutrition problem that affects the quality of children’s diet and impedes the development of healthy food preferences. Sensory sensitivity can relate to the degree of food neophobia, but previous studies rarely focused on the olfactory component of this problem in children. Objective We aimed to thoroughly examine the relationship between various aspects of olfactory sensitivity and food neophobia in children. Methods 246 children aged between three and nine years took part in a food neophobia assessment as well as in a comprehensive, psychophysical olfactory testing. Results We found that certain smell perception aspects such as lower odor liking, poorer odor identification ability as well as lower sensitivity to an unknown non-food odor all significantly predicted higher food neophobia in children. Among individual characteristics of either a child or a caregiver, only the child’s age significantly and positively predicted food neophobia. The exploratory model looking into the role of family environment factors predicting self-reported food neophobia in children revealed that food neophobia was associated with lower control given to a child in this child’s feeding process, as well as with a more frequent use of food as a reward in feeding. Conclusions We suggest that suppressed olfactory perception and performance can play a unique role in child nutritional difficulties. The study inspires further considerations of olfaction-engaging interventions to counteract food-neophobia in children.