Evaluation of taste-based school–home collaborative nutrition education on taste perception and eating behaviors among Japanese schoolchildren

Background Taste perception plays a key role in shaping children's food choices and eating behaviors. Aim This exploratory quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the effects of a taste-based, school–home collaborative nutrition education program on children's taste perception and eating behaviors. Methods This study involved 64 fourth- and fifth-grade children and their parents who were assigned to either the intervention ( n = 32) or control ( n = 32) groups. For 6 months, the intervention group received newsletters about taste, healthy food, and dietary intake, as well as taste test results and individualized feedback on their dietary intake. The control group did not receive any intervention. We collected data on children's taste perception, eating behaviors, self-efficacy, dietary intake, and parental healthy eating literacy pre- and post-intervention. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests, pre–post comparisons, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Summary An improvement in children's taste perception was observed in the intervention group in the pre–post comparisons, but no significant effects on taste perception or eating behaviors were observed using ANCOVA. By contrast, baseline parental healthy eating literacy was significantly associated with children's eating behaviors. These findings suggest that promoting healthy eating behaviors in children may require not only taste-based nutrition education but also sustained comprehensive approaches that include improving parents’ healthy eating literacy and strengthening school–home collaboration.