The GAIN Study: Understanding What Helps Children Learn to Like and Eat New Foods

Nutrition supplements have tremendous impact upon the nutritional and developmental status of malnourished children. These products have been designed to be acceptable to children (often by adding nutritive sweeteners to make them more palatable), but to date there has been little rigorous testing of their palatability for infants, toddlers and young children. The overall goal of this project is to investigate whether: 1. children's acceptance of a nutrition supplement is associated with maternal persistence in offering the food to her child over a 2-week period; 2. an unsweetened version of the nutrition supplement differs in short- and long-term acceptance; and 3. maternal liking of the supplement is associated with her persistence in offering the food to her child.