���˿���

Could we learn to like our vegetables more!? It's a question that many of us may have wondered, as we struggle to get through a plate of broccoli.

Now, an experiment done with a group of UK school children thinks it might have the answer!

The study wanted to see if it was possible to train ourselves to like a food that we didn't like before.

To find out, a group of young scientists aged 9 to 11 were split down into two groups.

Half of them were asked to eat a piece of the green vegetable kale every day for 15 days, while the other half ate raisins - and there were some very interesting results!

Most of the kids who ate kale every day found that they did like it more by the end of the experiment.

So, by making yourself eat something you may not really like over a period of time, you could learn to not hate it as much!

However, there were still some in the kale group who really didn't like it - even after the 15 days was up.

It was discovered this was because they had more fungiform papillae on their tongue, which contain our taste buds.

The more fungiform papillae a person has, the more strongly they will taste flavours - especially bitter ones - so these children are known as 'supertasters'.

About one in four people could be 'supertasters', which makes them more sensitive to strong foods, like lemons, spices and bitter vegetables, like Brussels sprouts.

Therefore, these people may need to eat kale for slightly longer before they learn to love it.

Jackie Blissett, professor in health behaviour and change at Coventry University, said: "It's been wonderful to work with these young scientists, and they've helped shed some light on one of the great mysteries: why some of us might not like our Brussels sprouts!"

The study formed part ���˿��� Learning's Terrific Scientific, working with Coventry University.