Abstract
Changes in preference for food colors by age and sex were s tudied using 1, 112 male and 1, 164 female students ranged in age between 12 and 20 years. Nine colors, red, orange, brown, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue, purple and pink were submitted for the preference survey.
Total of 69.9% of the males and 82.0% of the females recognized that food colors influenced their appetites. The percentage varied significantly between under 16 year-old and over 17 year-old subjects. The percentage was larger for elder than younger subjects.
Orange and red were preferred and blue and purple were not preferred, suggesting that warm colors stimulated the appetite more than cold colors. Significant differences were observed in standard deviations for rated preferences between the males and the females, and among respective age groups. The elder females showed smaller values of standard deviations than the younger females, meaning that they had similar color preferences. The males showed larger values than the females.
