Effects of repeated exposure to either vegetables or fruits on infant’s vegetable and fruit acceptance at the beginning of weaning

•Infants started weaning exclusively with vegetables or exclusively with fruits.•At the start of weaning fruit intake was higher than vegetable intake.•Repeated exposure to vegetables increased vegetable intake, but not fruit intake.•Repeated exposure to fruits increased fruit intake, but not vegetable intake.

This study investigated the effects of repeated exposure to either vegetables or fruits on an infant’s vegetable and fruit acceptance during the first 18 days of weaning. We hypothesized that repeated exposure to a type of vegetable or fruit, would increase its intake. Furthermore, we expected that being exclusively weaned with vegetables would result in a higher acceptance of vegetables than being exclusively weaned with fruits. To investigate this, a 19-day intervention study was conducted in 101 healthy infants, aged 4–6 months. Infants were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups. Two groups received exclusively vegetable purées as targets every other day for 18 consecutive days; green beans was the target for one group and artichoke for the other group. The other two groups received exclusively fruit purées including either apple or plums as the target fruit. On day 19, the vegetable groups consumed their first fruit purée and the fruit groups their first vegetable purée. At the beginning of the study on days 1 and 2 and at the end on days 17, 18 and 19, the infants were fed fruit or vegetable purée in our laboratory. On days 3–16, the parents fed their infants the fruit or vegetable purées at home.Outcome variables were vegetable and fruit intake over time. Mean vegetable intake in the vegetable group increased significantly from 24 ± 28 g (mean ± SD) on days 1 and 2 to 45 ± 44 g on days 17 and 18. Fruit intake in the fruit group increased significantly from 46 ± 40 to 66 ± 42 g. Fruit intake was significantly higher than vegetable intake from the start. Repeated exposure to fruit had no effect on the vegetable intake. The first intake of green beans in the fruit groups at day 19, was 24 ± 29 g and on average as low as the green beans intake in the vegetable groups at the 1st exposure on days 1 or 2. Similarly, the first apple intake in the fruit groups on days 1 or 2 of 47 ± 48 g did on average not differ from the first apple intake of 45 ± 49 g in the vegetable groups on day 19. The mean intake of green beans and plums increased significantly after repeated exposure. The intake of the target food artichoke stayed low and the intake of apple only increased slightly. These findings confirm that at the first exposure fruit acceptance is higher than vegetable acceptance. Weaning with vegetables, but not with fruits, may promote vegetable acceptance in infants.