Science Projects for Sixth Grade: Tasting the Difference Between Diet and Non-Diet Foods

Teach:

Diet foods and drinks often have commercials that claim that their version is just as tasty as the regular version, but healthier. Tell the students that they are going to conduct their own experiments to find out if the claims these companies are making on their commercials are accurate.

Materials:

1. A bunch of small cups
2. A two liter bottle of diet Coke
3. A two liter bottle of Coke
4. A two liter bottle of diet Gingerale
5. A two liter bottle of Gingerale
6. 4 or 5 McMuffins from McDonald's
7. 4 or 5 Canadian Style Bacon English Muffin from Weight Watchers Smart Ones
8. 2 Meals of Fettuccine Alfredo from anywhere
9. 2 Meals of

   Fettuccine Alfredo from Weight Watchers Smart Ones

10. Notebooks
11. Pencils

Procedure:

1. Ahead of time, create the samples so that the children won't know which is a diet food or a non-diet food.
2. Have your students create a hypothesis as to whether or not they will be able to notice the difference between the diet and non diet foods and drinks. Have them write their hypothesis in their notebooks.
3. Start with the drinks. Give each student a small cup marked A and a small cup marked B. Have diet in one and non-diet in the other.
4. Have the students write down their observations of each drink. Ask them to write down if there is a specific odor, initial taste, or after taste. Encourage them to use their senses.
5. Have the class guess which cup held the diet and which one held the non-diet.
6. Move on to the foods. Place some non-diet food in a small cup and some diet food in a second small cup for each student. They only need one bite to taste.
7. Have the students use their senses to evaluate each food. Have them tell you which food was diet.
8. Continue this process until all foods and drinks have been tested.

Review:

How many times were the children correct? Reveal the results to the students to see if they were surprised by the results. Ask them to write the conclusions from the experiment in their notebooks.