作者：翠归香精研发团队

出版：广东优味香精有限公司

最后更新：  Aug 10, 2026

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Color-Flavor Psychology in Kids’ Drinks

Color is the first sense engaged when a child reaches for a drink. Before the bottle is opened, before the liquid touches their tongue, before any flavor compound reaches an olfactory receptor — the visual experience of color has already begun shaping what the child will taste. This is not metaphor; it is established sensory science. Research conducted at the University of Washington’s faculty of neuroscience found that ‘color did affect flavor quality (how “true” it tested like cherry)’ and that ‘subjects reported that drinks with more red color tasted stronger’ — confirming empirically that color functions as a flavor modifier, not merely a visual signal.

For B2B food and beverage flavor manufacturers developing children’s drinks — whether juice, flavored water, sports drinks, or functional children’s beverages — this color-flavor psychology is not an academic abstraction. It directly determines formulation success. A strawberry-flavored drink that is the wrong shade of red, or a green apple drink that has an unexpectedly deep green, will confuse children’s cross-modal flavor expectations and reduce sensory satisfaction even if the flavor chemistry is otherwise excellent. Understanding how to align color and flavor signals — and how to formulate both together — is a core competency for anyone developing products for the children’s beverage market.

1. The Market Foundation: Children’s Beverages

1.1 Market Scale and the Special Requirements of Kids’ Drinks

The children’s beverage category is one of the most closely scrutinized and commercially significant in the entire food and drink industry. Children aged 2-12 represent a consumer segment with enormous lifetime value — not only as current juice, flavored water, and functional drink consumers but as the brand loyalties that carry into adulthood. Parents making purchase decisions on behalf of young children apply uniquely rigorous screening criteria: natural ingredients, no artificial colors, reduced sugar, and fun/engaging sensory experiences that make healthy beverages appealing to children who would otherwise choose less nutritious alternatives.

According to Research and Markets data cited by industry reports, the global children’s beverages market is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 6-8% through 2030, driven by increasing parental awareness of nutrition, the clean-label movement’s extension into children’s products, and the growing functional children’s beverage segment (fortified juices, children’s probiotic drinks, reduced-sugar sports hydration products). The specific intersection of color psychology and flavor formulation is commercially relevant to every product in this category.

1.2 Why Kids’ Drinks Present Unique Color-Flavor Challenges

Children represent a particularly interesting case for color-flavor psychology research for several reasons that make their beverage formulation requirements distinct from adult beverage development:

• Heightened reliance on visual cues: research consistently shows that children rely more heavily on visual cues (including color) for flavor identification and quality expectation than adults, who have more developed olfactory and gustatory discrimination abilities. As a result, color-flavor mismatches that adults can cognitively override are genuinely confusing and off-putting to young children
• Established color-flavor associations developed through prior product exposure: by age 4-5, most children in Western markets have developed strong color-flavor associations through exposure to commercial fruit juices and flavored drinks. These associations function as predictive sensory models — children approach new drinks with color-based flavor expectations that the product must either satisfy or deliberately subvert
• Higher sensitivity to sweet-sour balance and lower bitter tolerance: children’s taste receptor development means they have higher sweet taste sensitivity and lower bitter tolerance than adults, creating specific flavor calibration requirements that interact with color-based sweetness expectations
• Parent-mediated purchase with child-influenced selection: children’s beverages are purchased by parents but selected partly based on children’s visual preference — the drink must simultaneously pass the parent’s ingredient/health screening and the child’s visual appeal test. Color is the child’s primary evaluation criterion

2. The Science of Color-Flavor Cross-Modal Expectation

2.1 Color as the Dominant Sensory Cue for Flavor Expectation

Peer-reviewed research published in PMC (PMC7037180, 2020) on the relationship between color and taste/flavor provides comprehensive scientific documentation of color’s dominant role in flavor perception. According to this review, ‘the hue and saturation, or intensity, of color in food and/or drink often influences multisensory flavor perception.’ The mechanism operates through a well-documented psychological process called ‘cross-modal sensory expectation’ — in which a signal from one sense modality (vision: color) creates a predictive expectation that modulates perception through another sense modality (taste/olfaction).

Hiya Health’s evidence-based analysis (May 2024) summarizes the research consensus: ‘Research shows that color is the most important sensory cue for setting expectations about the likely taste of food and beverages.’ This primacy of color over other sensory cues is particularly marked in children and in unfamiliar products — both conditions that apply to children’s new beverage experiences.

The cross-modal color-flavor expectation operates through predictive processing: the brain uses the color signal to generate a prediction of the likely flavor, then interprets incoming taste and aroma signals through this predictive filter. When color and flavor are congruent (the flavor matches the color’s prediction), flavor quality ratings are higher. When they are incongruent, perceived flavor quality is reduced — even when the actual chemical flavor composition is identical.

2.2 The Established Color-Flavor Associations in Children

Through repeated product exposure across their early years, children in Western consumer markets develop reliable color-flavor association maps. Research across multiple studies — including university-based sensory studies and food industry consumer research — has established the following primary associations for children’s beverages:

2.3 How Saturation and Hue Intensity Affect Perceived Flavor Intensity

Beyond which color creates which flavor expectation, the intensity (saturation) of the color systematically affects the perceived intensity of the associated flavor. Research on flavor intensity and color saturation shows:

• Higher color saturation → perceived stronger flavor: a deeper red drink is expected to taste more strongly of cherry/strawberry than a pale pink drink at identical chemical flavor composition. The University of Washington research directly confirmed: ‘subjects reported that drinks with more red color tasted stronger’
• Paler saturation → perceived lighter/more delicate flavor: pale colors create expectations of subtle, delicate flavors — appropriate for products targeting mild-flavor positioning but requiring careful management to avoid ‘too weak’ perception
• Color uniformity and stability: children notice when a colored beverage separates, fades, or changes color during storage — color instability creates negative quality associations regardless of flavor. Natural colorants for children’s beverages must be selected for pH stability, light stability, and heat stability to maintain consistent color through shelf life

Color-Flavor Expectation Science

3. Flavor Formulation for Color-Flavor Congruence

3.1 Matching Flavor Concentrates to Color Expectations

For B2B flavor manufacturers developing children’s beverage concentrates, the practical application of color-flavor psychology is the formulation principle: the flavor character delivered by the concentrate must align with the flavor expectation created by the product’s color. This seems obvious in principle but creates several non-obvious technical implications in practice:

• Authenticity of flavor character within the color category: children’s color-flavor associations are based on repeated exposure to specific products. A red beverage creates ‘strawberry or cherry’ expectation — but the specific quality of that strawberry (fresh vs. jam-like vs. candy-like) is also shaped by prior product exposure. Research on flavor quality found that color affects ‘how “true” it tested like cherry’ — meaning not just category identification but perceived authenticity
• Flavor intensity calibration to match color intensity: if a product is highly saturated in color (deep red), the flavor concentration must be correspondingly intense to match the strength expectation. A deeply colored drink with a weak flavor creates cognitive dissonance that children register as product failure even without being able to articulate why
• Managing flavor character in unexpected color combinations: when product innovation calls for unusual color-flavor combinations (a yellow cherry drink; a blue orange drink), the formulation strategy must actively acknowledge and manage the color-flavor mismatch — either through labeling that sets correct expectations or through flavor character modifications that reduce the incongruence sensation

3.2 The Flavor Profiles That Best Satisfy Color-Based Expectations

Based on color-flavor association research and beverage industry formulation experience, the following flavor profile characteristics best satisfy children’s color-based flavor expectations:

• Red (strawberry/cherry): furaneol-dominant (caramel-strawberry warmth from ACS-documented strawberry key compound) + benzaldehyde (cherry/almond-adjacent) + ethyl butyrate (fresh fruity brightness). Sweetness should be high; slight acidic balance prevents perceived monotony; avoid green or herbal notes that conflict with red color warmth expectation
• Orange (orange/mandarin): limonene-dominant (citrus brightness) + decanal (waxy orange character) + ethyl butyrate (fresh juicy dimension). Sweetness medium-high; the orange color creates a more ‘complete’ flavor expectation than yellow (which allows for more tartness) — orange should taste round and sweet-citrus
• Yellow (lemon): citral-dominant (lemon character) + limonene brightness + slight bitterness from naringenin at sub-threshold. Yellow creates the strongest sour-expectation — the most tart profile that children will tolerate within a colored beverage context
• Green (apple/lime): ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fresh green apple) + hexyl acetate (apple-fruity) + citral at lower concentration (lime dimension). Green creates expectations of slightly tart freshness — apple profiles should have ‘just-bitten’ brightness
• Pink (strawberry-watermelon): furaneol warmth + DNOP watermelon ester + rose oxide at trace (supporting the pink-floral expectation) — pink drinks create the strongest sweet expectations; strawberry-pink should be noticeably sweeter than equivalent red products
• Purple/Blue (berry-grape): methyl anthranilate (concord grape/berry) + furaneol base + citric acid at moderated levels. Blue/purple beverages are the most challenging color-flavor match for children — the colors are less natural in food contexts and create less consistent expectations, requiring more explicit flavor character to anchor the perception

4. Natural Colorants for Children’s Beverages: Meeting Parent Expectations

The clean-label imperative in children’s products has driven a significant market shift from synthetic FD&C dyes to natural colorants. Parents reading ingredient labels increasingly reject artificial colors (particularly those associated with behavioral concerns in children) in favor of plant-derived colorants. PMC11332426 (2024) specifically documented that ‘recent research underscores the significant impact of color psychology in advertising on children’s food and beverage preferences, particularly those laden with artificial colors and flavors’ — highlighting parental concerns about artificial colorants in children’s products.

4.1 Natural Colorants by Target Color for Children’s Beverages

• Red/Pink: beet (beetroot) extract — provides vivid red to pink depending on concentration; pH-stable in acidic beverages (pHrange 3.0-4.0 typical of kids’ drinks); anthocyanin stability varies; should be used with citric acid for stability. Dragon fruit (pitaya) extract for pink shades. Hibiscus extract for deep red-pink
• Orange: carrot extract (beta-carotene) — very stable, oil-soluble requiring proper emulsification for water-based beverages; paprika extract for deeper orange; annatto for orange-yellow with reddish depth. Synthetic-natural equivalent: beta-carotene from fermentation (non-GMO fermented beta-carotene available)
• Yellow: turmeric (curcumin) — excellent for warm golden-yellow; some flavor note at high concentrations that requires management; safflower yellow; beta-carotene at lower concentration for light yellow
• Green: spirulina (phycocyanin/chlorophyll) — challenging stability; apple juice chlorophyll; plant-derived chlorophyll from alfalfa or nettles. Green is the most technically challenging natural color in acidic beverages due to chlorophyll instability
• Purple/Blue: butterfly pea flower extract — exceptional for color-shifting blue-purple that changes dramatically with pH (blue at neutral, purple at slight acid, pink at high acid — creating ‘magic color change’ marketing opportunities for children); anthocyanins from blueberry, black carrot, purple sweet potato

4.2 Color Stability Challenges and Solutions

Natural colorants for children’s beverages face specific stability challenges that synthetic FD&C dyes do not have — requiring formulation strategies to maintain consistent color through shelf life:

• Light exposure: anthocyanins (beet, berry, hibiscus) are photosensitive — beverages in transparent packaging require UV-blocking packaging or selection of more light-stable colorants (beta-carotene, annatto) for ambient-light shelf conditions
• pH sensitivity: most anthocyanin-based colorants are pH-dependent in their color expression; beverage pH changes during storage can shift color hue. Buffering systems and pH-stable colorant selection mitigate this
• Thermal processing: high-temperature pasteurization (UHT, hot-fill) degrades many natural colorants. Aseptic processing at lower temperatures, cold-fill with preservative systems, or selection of heat-stable colorants (annatto, beta-carotene) are appropriate solutions for heat-processed children’s beverages
• Metal ion interaction: iron and copper in the water supply can catalyze oxidative degradation of certain natural colorants; using deionized water in formulation reduces this risk

The interaction between natural colorants and flavor concentrates in children’s beverages is part of the broader challenge of developing clean-label functional beverage formulations. For a comprehensive analysis of how to create appealing, health-positioned beverages with natural ingredients that parents will approve and children will enjoy, see our guide: Creating “Better-For-You” Energy Drinks with Natural Flavor Sources — which covers the natural ingredient strategies that are directly applicable to premium children’s beverage development.

Natural Colorants for Kids’ Beverages

5. Sweetness and Color: The Sweet Expectation Effect

5.1 How Color Creates Sweetness Expectations

Beyond flavor category identification (red = strawberry, not cherry), color also creates quantitative sweetness expectations — children expect more saturated, warmer colors to be sweeter and lighter, cooler colors to be less sweet. Research at Concord University on ‘The Effects of the Color Red on Taste Perception’ found that ‘this effect was demonstrated by the children’s preference for the red colored drink when the taste was sour but preferring the clear drink when the taste was not sour’ — confirming that red color creates a sweetness expectation strong enough to influence preference at different actual sweetness levels.

This sweetness-color connection has direct implications for children’s beverage formulation:

• Red and pink products carry the highest inherent sweetness expectation — these products need to deliver perceptible sweetness to satisfy the color-based prediction, or face consumer disappointment even if nutritional sugar reduction is the product’s health positioning
• Yellow (lemon) carries lower sweetness expectation and higher sour tolerance — yellow beverages can be formulated with lower sweetness and higher acidity without disappointing children’s expectations
• Green (apple) sits between yellow and red in sweetness expectation — slightly sweet but with a bright acidic character that balances the sweetness
• Sweetener selection matters in the context of color: stevia’s characteristic aftertaste interacts differently with different flavor profiles. In red-strawberry beverages (high sweetness expectation), stevia aftertaste may be more noticeable because the product is expected to deliver intense sweetness; in yellow-lemon beverages (moderate expectation), the same stevia concentration may be better tolerated

5.2 Managing Sugar Reduction While Maintaining Color-Sweetness Congruence

The children’s beverage market is under sustained pressure to reduce sugar content while maintaining the sensory appeal that drives children’s acceptance. Color-sweetness congruence creates a challenge for sugar reduction: reducing sugar in a red or pink beverage reduces sweetness below the color-based expectation, creating a perception gap that children register as product failure.

Strategies for maintaining color-sweetness congruence during sugar reduction:

• Sweetness flavor enhancement: flavor compounds that enhance perceived sweetness without adding calories — furaneol (strawberry-caramel, which enhances sweet perception), vanillin at trace concentration, and certain terpene compounds — can partially compensate for reduced sugar concentration
• Intensity alignment: if sugar is reduced substantially, consider reducing color saturation proportionally — lighter pink rather than deep red signals lower sweetness, reducing the expectation gap
• Flavor-based sweetness compensation: using flavor profiles that include inherently sweet-associated aroma compounds (vanilla, coconut, caramel notes at trace levels) creates perceived sweetness through cross-modal sweetness enhancement without actual sweetener addition
• Sweetener blending: combining low-dose stevia with erythritol and a small residual sugar creates a more complete sweetness profile that better satisfies color-based sweetness expectations than single-sweetener approaches

6. Regulatory Dimensions: Marketing Colors and Flavors to Children

The intersection of color psychology and children’s beverage marketing creates specific regulatory and ethical considerations that B2B flavor manufacturers and their brand customers must navigate carefully.

6.1 Artificial Color Concerns and Regulatory Status

The regulatory landscape for artificial colors in children’s products varies significantly by market:

• United States: the FDA permits use of certified synthetic food colors (FD&C dyes) in food and beverages, including children’s products, at approved usage levels. However, FDA-certified synthetic colors must be declared on ingredient labels; consumer pressure has driven many major brands to voluntarily move to natural colorants even where synthetic colors remain permitted
• European Union: EU Regulation 1333/2008 on food additives requires that foods containing the six ‘Southampton Six’ artificial colors (Sunset Yellow FCF E110, Quinoline Yellow E104, Carmoisine E122, Allura Red E129, Tartrazine E102, Ponceau 4R E124) carry the warning label ‘may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children’ — a requirement that has substantially reduced use of these colors in EU children’s products
• UK (post-Brexit): UK food regulations retain the EU framework’s warning label requirement for the Southampton Six colors

6.2 The Ethical Dimension: Color Psychology and Children’s Advertising

PMC11332426 (2024) documented that ‘recent research underscores the significant impact of color psychology in advertising on children’s food and beverage preferences, particularly those laden with artificial colors and flavors’ — noting that color psychology can be deployed in advertising in ways that specifically target children’s less-developed critical evaluation capabilities. This creates an ethical responsibility for flavor manufacturers and beverage brands: leveraging color-flavor psychology to make healthy products more appealing to children is beneficial; using the same psychology to manipulate children toward nutritionally poor products is ethically problematic and increasingly subject to regulatory scrutiny.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for restrictions on marketing of unhealthy foods to children, and multiple countries have implemented or are implementing restrictions on food advertising to children. B2B flavor manufacturers whose concentrates are used in children’s beverages have a shared responsibility to support formulations where color-flavor psychology serves children’s genuine interests — making nutritious, appropriately sweetened beverages more appealing — rather than making nutrient-poor products irresistible.

7. Cuiguai Flavor’s Children’s Beverage Flavor Portfolio

At Guangdong Unique Flavor Co., Ltd. (Cuiguai Flavor), our food and beverage flavor portfolio includes concentrates developed with the color-flavor congruence principles described throughout this article. Our children’s beverage flavor concentrates are formulated to deliver the specific sensory character that validates each color’s flavor expectation:

Our flavor development approach for children’s products applies three core principles: (1) color-authentic flavor character — each concentrate’s aroma profile is specifically tuned to match the flavor expectation generated by its associated color; (2) age-appropriate sweetness calibration — flavor intensity and sweetness character are calibrated for children’s taste receptor sensitivity; (3) natural compound preference — our children’s range prioritizes natural flavor compounds for clean-label compatibility.

我们的 Refreshing Watermelon Flavor concentrate exemplifies our approach to children’s beverage flavor development — delivering the vibrant, sweet, unmistakably watermelon character that validates a pink or red beverage’s color expectation, formulated with natural flavor compounds and usage rates calibrated for children’s higher sweet sensitivity.

For children’s beverages targeting tea-based formats — increasingly popular with parents seeking naturally caffeinated or herbal alternatives to juice for older children — our Lemon Tea Flavor illustrates our competency in tea-matrix flavor development that delivers the bright citrus character consistent with yellow color expectation in a tea-base format appropriate for children’s product positioning.

8. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: How does color affect flavor perception in children’s beverages?

Color creates flavor expectations through cross-modal sensory processing — the brain uses color as a predictive signal for taste and aroma, then interprets actual flavor input through this pre-established expectation. Research from the University of Washington confirmed that ‘color did affect flavor quality (how “true” it tested like cherry)’ and that color affected perceived flavor strength. According to PMC7037180 (2020), ‘the hue and saturation, or intensity, of color in food and/or drink often influences multisensory flavor perception.’ Children rely more heavily on color cues than adults because their olfactory and gustatory discrimination is less developed.

Q2: Which color-flavor associations are most reliably established in children?

The most reliably established color-flavor associations in children are: red → strawberry/cherry/raspberry; orange → orange/mandarin/peach; yellow → lemon/pineapple; green → apple/lime; pink → strawberry/watermelon; purple/blue → grape/berry. These associations are learned through repeated product exposure and are strong enough that color-flavor mismatches measurably reduce flavor quality ratings even when the actual flavor chemistry is identical.

Q3: Why should natural colorants be preferred for children’s beverages?

Two key reasons: regulatory (EU requires warning labels on products containing six specific artificial colors — ‘may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children’ — substantially reducing commercial viability of synthetic colors in EU children’s products); and parental preference (parent-mediated purchasing in the children’s category strongly favors natural ingredients, with artificial colors among the most commonly rejected ingredients in parent ingredient-screening behavior). Natural colorants also provide genuine functional alignment with ‘better-for-you’ children’s beverage positioning.

Q4: How does color saturation affect children’s sweetness expectation?

Higher color saturation creates stronger sweetness expectations — more deeply red or more intensely orange drinks are expected to taste sweeter than pastel equivalents. Research at Concord University confirmed this for red beverages specifically. This means that sugar reduction in children’s beverages must account for color saturation: reducing sugar below what a product’s color saturation predicts creates a perception gap that children register as dissatisfaction. Options include reducing saturation proportionally with sugar reduction, or using sweetness-enhancing flavor compounds to maintain perceptive sweetness.

Q5: What are the best natural colorants for red and pink children’s beverages?

The primary natural red/pink options are: beet (beetroot) extract — vivid red to pink; pH-stable in typical beverage acidic range; provides bright red-pink with high saturation impact. Dragon fruit (pitaya) extract — lighter pink; provides differentiated visual character. Hibiscus extract — deep ruby red-pink. Anthocyanins from berry sources (blueberry, elderberry) — provide red-purple tones. Selection depends on target pH, processing conditions (heat stability requirements), and desired hue profile. Stability in UV light exposure is a key criterion for transparent-packaging products.

Q6: How should flavor concentrates be calibrated for children’s higher sweet sensitivity?

Children have higher sweet taste receptor sensitivity than adults — they detect and appreciate sweetness at lower actual concentrations, and find levels that adults consider moderately sweet to be intensely sweet. Children’s beverage flavor concentrates should be calibrated at the sweeter end of the adult equivalent range, with furaneol-dominant fruit profiles (strawberry, mixed berry) that enhance sweet character perception, and with careful management of bitter or astringent notes that children find aversive at lower thresholds than adults.

Q7: What regulatory restrictions apply to marketing colored beverages to children?

Key regulatory dimensions: EU requires warning labels on products containing ‘Southampton Six’ synthetic colors (E110, E104, E122, E129, E102, E124) — ‘may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children’; US FDA requires declaration of certified colors on labels; WHO has issued guidelines calling for restrictions on marketing of unhealthy foods to children; multiple countries have implemented or are implementing children’s food advertising restrictions that apply to both color and flavor marketing claims.

Q8: How can I request children’s beverage flavor concentrate samples from Cuiguai Flavor?

Contact our technical team via WhatsApp at +86 189 2926 7983 or email info@cuiguai.com with your target beverage color (red/strawberry, orange, yellow/lemon, green/apple, pink/watermelon, etc.), beverage format (juice, flavored water, functional drink, etc.), target age group (toddler, preschool, school-age), sugar level target, and market (for regulatory compliance documentation). We will recommend appropriate natural flavor concentrates with color-congruent flavor character and dispatch free samples within 24 hours.

9. Conclusion: Color-Flavor Intelligence as a Children’s Beverage Competitive Advantage

The psychology of color and flavor in children’s drinks is not an abstract academic subject — it is a commercially actionable intelligence asset for every flavor manufacturer and beverage brand operating in this category. The science is clear, consistent, and well-documented: color is the dominant sensory cue for children’s flavor expectations; color saturation predicts expected flavor intensity; color-flavor congruence determines children’s satisfaction even when actual flavor chemistry is excellent; and natural colorants are increasingly necessary to satisfy both regulatory requirements and parental purchase criteria.

For B2B flavor concentrate manufacturers, the practical application is straightforward: formulate flavor concentrates that are calibrated not just for flavor quality in isolation, but for alignment with the specific color expectation that each concentrate’s product application will create. Red strawberry should taste exactly as red promises. Orange should round and satisfy exactly as orange predicts. Formulations that ignore this color-flavor expectation alignment create products that technically taste good but perceptually fall short — and in children’s beverages, perceptual shortfall is commercial shortfall.

The children’s beverage market rewards brands that master both dimensions — the sensory science of what children taste, and the visual psychology of what color promises they will taste. Flavor manufacturers who understand and support both dimensions, providing concentrates that are color-authentic as well as chemically excellent, are the preferred ingredient partners for the brands building the next generation of children’s beverage success.

Cuiguai Kids’ Beverage Flavor R&D

Develop Color-Congruent Natural Flavor Concentrates for Children’s Beverages with Cuiguai Flavor

Guangdong Unique Flavor Co., Ltd. (Cuiguai Flavor) is a professional food and beverage flavor concentrate manufacturer based in Dongguan, Guangdong, China. Our children’s beverage flavor portfolio covers strawberry, cherry, orange, lemon, apple, watermelon, grape/berry, and mixed fruit profiles — all formulated with color-flavor congruence principles, natural compound selection for clean-label compliance, and age-appropriate sweetness calibration. ISO22000 / HACCP certified. 24-hour sample dispatch.

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参考资料

[1] PMC7037180 / PubMed Central. (2020). On the Relationship(s) Between Color and Taste/Flavor. ‘The hue and saturation, or intensity, of color in food and/or drink often influences multisensory flavor perception.’ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7037180/

[2] University of Washington, Faculty of Neuroscience. (Dr. Eric Chudler). Does the color of foods and drinks affect the sense of taste? ‘Color did affect flavor quality (how “true” it tested like cherry)… subjects reported that drinks with more red color tasted stronger.’ https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/coltaste.html

[3] PMC11332426 / PubMed Central. (August 2024). Colorful Perspectives: Bridging the Gap Between Marketing and Children’s Food Preferences. ‘Recent research underscores the significant impact of color psychology in advertising on children’s food and beverage preferences.’ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11332426/

[4] Hiya Health. (May 22, 2024). The Psychological Impact of the Colors of Food on Children’s Perception. ‘Research shows that color is the most important sensory cue for setting expectations about the likely taste of food and beverages.’ https://hiyahealth.com/blogs/evidence-based-essentials/the-psychological-impact-of-the-colors-of-food-on-children-s-perception

[5] Concord University. The Effects of the Color Red on Taste Perception. Children’s preference for red drinks in sour conditions; color saturation and taste strength. https://www.concord.edu/wp-content/uploads/volume-3-part-D.pdf

[6] PMC8216361 / PubMed Central. (2021). Explaining Crossmodal Correspondences Between Colours and Tastes. Cross-modal color-flavor correspondence mechanisms and consumer product implications. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8216361/

[7] EU Regulation 1333/2008 on Food Additives. Requirement for warning label on products containing ‘Southampton Six’ artificial colors: ‘may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.’

[8] ZOE Science. (April 23, 2024). Does the Color of Food Influence Its Flavor? ‘Some studies have shown that heightening the color of food or drink enhances the intensity of the taste.’ https://zoe.com/learn/how-color-changes-taste-flavor