It’s the age-old question faced by parents the world over: why do kids hate greens?

Well, new research seems to have the answer.

A study has shown that vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage can give off a bitter taste and a burst of foul-smelling gas when mixed with a child’s saliva and bacteria in their mouth.

It also happens in some adults.

Lead author of this study is food chemistry and sensory food scientist, Damian Frank, said it was a “pretty amazing” discovery.

“Basically what we’ve found, whether you’re a child or an adult, some people have certain bacteria in their oral cavity that can brea down the sulphur containing amino acid type thing, very quickly in real time and release a burst of stinky sulphur volatiles,” he told Dan Nolan.

“So we wanted to find a difference between adults and children, but there wasn’t.

“But there’s a big difference between the person next to you and you, some people have no activity, some people have a lot.

“We found with children, the ones that have a lot of activity were the ones that reported liking cauliflower the least.”

He said it’s worth overcoming, as they are an important part of anyone’s diet, but he said some advice on how to prepare veggies!

“I think that you should cut your kids some slack,” he said.

“Be a little bit kind to them, but I think you should try a different preparation method with them, try and disguise it with different sauces.

“I would not recommend boiling them within an inch of their life, but Australians collectively have wised up on this and our think our skills in the kitchen are a bit better than our grandparents.”

He said from a nutritional point of view, panfrying or steaming broccoli/cauliflower for a minute was optimal.

Press PLAY below to hear the full, fascinating chat!

Image: Getty