Determining a series of whole wheat difference thresholds for use in a gradual adjustment intervention to improve children's liking of whole-wheat bread rolls

The first objective of this research was to determine if elementary school-aged children preferred refined bread to whole-wheat bread. The second objective was to set a series of difference threshold steps that could be used for an intervention to gradually and undetectably increase whole-wheat flour content in a bread roll. We conducted a taste test with 103 elementary school children in which they rated their liking of bread rolls containing various levels of whole wheat. The rolls with lower levels of whole wheat were liked better than the rolls with higher levels. We established difference thresholds for whole-wheat flour in rolls over the range of 0-100% whole wheat using ascending forced-choice tests. From these thresholds, we established the following series of concentrations (%): 1, 2, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21, 26, 32, 38, 47, 59, 72 and 91.