Ontogeny of taste preferences: basic biology and implications for
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health1–5
Julie A Mennella
ABSTRACT
Health initiatives address childhood obesity in part by encouraging
good nutrition early in life. This review highlights the science that
shows that children naturally prefer higher levels of sweet and salty
tastes and reject lower levels of bitter tastes than do adults. Thus,
their basic biology does not predispose them to favor the recommen-
ded low-sugar, low-sodium, vegetable-rich diets and makes them es-
pecially vulnerable to our current food environment of foods high in
salt and refined sugars. The good news is that sensory experiences,
beginning early in life, can shape preferences. Mothers who consume
diets rich in healthy foods can get children off to a good start because
flavors are transmitted from the maternal diet to amniotic fluid and
mother’s milk, and breastfed infants are more accepting of these
flavors. In contrast, infants fed formula learn to prefer its unique
flavor profile and may have more difficulty initially accepting fla-
vors not found in formula, such as those of fruit and vegetables.
Regardless of early feeding mode, infants can learn through re-
peated exposure and dietary variety if caregivers focus on the
child’s willingness to consume a food and not just the facial ex-
pressions made during feeding. In addition, providing complemen-
tary foods low in salt and sugars may help protect the developing
child from excess intake later in life. Early-life experiences with
healthy tastes and flavors may go a long way toward promoting
healthy eating, which could have a significant impact in addressing
the many chronic illnesses associated with poor food choice.
Am J Clin Nutr 2014;99(suppl):704S–11S.
INTRODUCTION
Many health initiatives, including “Let’s Move!” launched by
the White House in 2010, are attempting to end the epidemic of
childhood obesity within a generation through new steps to en-
courage good nutrition and exercise (1). Recommendations in-
clude that both adults and children limit consumption of salt, fat,
and simple sugars, which have sensory properties that we find
particularly palatable, and eat more fruit and vegetables, the latter
of which sometimes taste bitter (2–4).
A major challenge for these health initiatives is that neither
adults nor children are complying with these recommendations
(5, 6). The 2002 and 2008 Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study,
designed to update our knowledge on the feeding patterns of
American children, found that 1 in 4 toddlers did not consume
even one vegetable on a given day (5–7) and instead, like older
children (8–11), were likely consuming French fries, sweet- and
salty-tasting snacks, and sweet beverages (5, 6). By the second
year of life, not 1 of the top 5 vegetables eaten was a dark-green
704S Am J Clin Nutr 2014;99(suppl):704S–11S. Printed in USA. Ó 2014 American Society for Nutrition
vegetable (5, 6). Thus, it is not surprising that the recently
launched Healthy People 2020 lists as one of its goals (Goal
NSW-15) an increase in the variety and contribution of vege-
tables to the diets of the population, including its youngest
members (4).
How can we account for patterns of food choice that seem
antithetical to health and for the difficulties in changing them?
Two factors conspire to predispose some children to consume
obesogenic diets: 1) inborn, evolutionarily driven taste prefer-
ences and 2) detrimental consequences of not being exposed to
flavors of healthful foods early in life (see references 12–14 for
previous reviews). Children have sensory systems that detect
and prefer the once-rare calorie- and mineral-rich foods that
taste sweet or salty (15), while rejecting the potentially toxic
ones that taste bitter (16, 17).
This review highlights research that shows some of the bi-
ological drives of food acceptance during infancy and childhood
and how early-life experiences interact with inherent plasticity of
the chemical senses to mold preferences for foods. We focus on
scientific evidence suggesting that early experience can influence
what foods are preferred, as well as the ontogeny of sweet, salty,
and bitter, the tastes that 1) have been most extensively studied,
2) are directly involved in choices of specific foods of concern
(sweet and salty foods and bitter-tasting vegetables), and 3)
exhibit age-related changes in function.
IMPORTANCE OF EARLY-LIFE EXPERIENCES
Early-life exposures—both biological and social—explain
trajectories of health in adulthood decades later (18). In partic-
ular, excessive intakes of foods high in salt (sodium chloride)
1
From the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA.
2
Presented at the workshop, “Evaluating the Diet-Related Scientific Lit-
erature for Children from Birth to 24 Months: The B-24 Project,” held in
Rockville, MD, February 5–7, 2013.
3
The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not nec-
essarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes
of Health.
4
Supported by NIH grants R01HD37119 and R01HD072307 from the
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human De-
velopment and grant R01DC01128 from the National Institute of Deafness
and Other Communication Disorders.
5
Address correspondence to JA Mennella, Monell Chemical Senses Cen-
ter, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. E-mail: mennella@monell.
org.
First published online January 22, 2014; doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.067694.
 ONTOGENY OF TASTE PREFERENCES
and refined sugars early in life cause or exacerbate a number of
illnesses and conditions in adulthood (19–22), such as obesity,
metabolic syndrome, and mortality from cardiovascular disease.
Such long-lasting impacts of early nutrition on health underlie
the life-course approach taken in many medical fields, as well as
the suggestion that both preventive interventions and further
scientific inquiry should focus on early life (21, 23, 24).
Early experience has far-reaching effects on behavior.
Emerging research has shown the existence of postnatal periods
when the developing brain has heightened sensitivity to envi-
ronmental influences (25)—epochs of brain plasticity when the
early environment can shape neural circuits and thus behaviors.
Beginning very early in life, sensory experiences shape and
modify flavor and food preferences (26–29).
Although humans generally have inborn, positive responses to
sugar, and perhaps salt, and negative responses to bitter, ge-
netically determined individual differences also exist and interact
with experience to ensure that children are not genetically re-
stricted to a narrow range of foodstuffs (see references 12 and 30
for review). Thus, early experiences with nutritious foods and
flavor variety may maximize the likelihood that, as children
grow, they will choose a healthier diet because they like the
tastes and variety of the foods it contains.
In support of this hypothesis, longitudinal studies have shown
that food habits established during infancy track into childhood
and adolescence (31–35) for both nutrient-dense and nutrient-
poor foods (34). Such dietary patterns, which begin to be
identified during childhood (36), are significant determinants of
the quality of the adult diet (37, 38). The most apparent period
of change in dietary patterns was evident during early childhood
(35), with new foods more likely to be accepted when children
are 2–3 y of age compared with older ages (31). After the age of
3–4 y, reported dietary patterns/food habits remained quite sta-
ble, further highlighting the importance of getting children on
the right track from the initial stages of learning to eat (,3 y)
(see also reference 33).
Most studies that tracked dietary patterns/food habits have
been correlational in nature and thus, some have argued, in-
conclusive (39). Nevertheless, the evidence suggests positive
consequences of healthy dietary trajectories from infancy to
adulthood and how learning to like “healthy” foods is modifiable
and begins early in life. During childhood, the strongest pre-
dictors of what foods young children eat are 1) whether they like
how the foods taste, 2) how long they were breastfed and
whether their mothers ate these foods, and 3) whether they had
been eating these foods from an early age (31, 35, 40–42). An
important area for future research includes randomized con-
trolled trials on early diet that focus on both caregivers and
children (eg, references 43 and 44).
BIOLOGY OF THE CHEMICAL SENSES
Flavor, a powerful determinant of human consummatory be-
havior throughout the life span, is a product of several sensory
systems, most notably those of taste and smell (odors perceived
retronasally). The anatomically independent flavor senses are
well developed at birth and continue to change throughout
childhood and adolescence, serving as gatekeepers throughout
the life span (45), controlling one of the most important decisions
an animal makes: whether to accept or reject a foreign substance.
705S
They also inform the gastrointestinal system about the quality and
quantity of the impending rush of nutrients or toxins (46).
The tastes of foods that children initially either prefer (eg,
sweet, salty foods) or reject (eg, bitter-tasting foods, including
some vegetables) in part reflect their basic biology. Age-related
changes in taste perception and preference, documented by ex-
perimental research during the past century, indicate that the
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rewarding properties of sweet and salt are more pronounced
during childhood. Many drugs of abuse coopt ancient brain re-
ward systems that underlie hedonics of salt taste (“our primordial
narcotic”) (47) and sweet taste (“our oldest reward”) (48).
Sweet
The preference for sweet tastes, which is present early in life, is
remarkably well conserved in primates (49). At birth (and per-
haps even before), the ability to detect sweet tastes is functioning
and interacting with systems that control affect (49–51). Infants
born preterm and tested between 33 and 40 wk postconception
produced stronger and more frequent sucking responses when
offered a sucrose-sweetened latex nipple compared with an
unsweetened latex nipple (50). Within hours after birth, new-
borns differentiate varying degrees of sweetness and consume
more of a sugar solution than water (52). When a sweet solution
is placed in the oral cavity, infants relax the face and sometimes
smile (49, 51).
Psychophysical studies have shown that the preference for
sweet taste is universal and evident among children around the
world (53, 54). Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have
shown that preferences for sweets remain heightened throughout
childhood (55–58) and early adolescence (53, 55), declining to
adult levels during midadolescence (53, 55). In one of the largest
studies on sweet preference (930 participants), which analyzed
data for the NIH Toolbox Initiative, children selected a 0.54-mol
sucrose/L concentration as their most preferred (55), a concen-
tration equivalent to 11 teaspoons (w44 g) of sugar in an 8-
ounce glass of water—nearly twice the sugar concentration of
a typical cola (0.34 mol/L).
Sweet taste in the mouth can also blunt expressions of pain in
children (59) and acts as an opioid receptor–dependent pain-
reducing agent. Its ability to act as an analgesic has been in-
vestigated extensively in preterm and term infants (see reference
60 for review) and to a lesser extent in children (57, 61, 62).
Sweet taste is effective in reducing spontaneous crying and pain
in preterm and term infants during an array of painful pro-
cedures, such as a heal lance, venipuncture, or intramuscular
injections (60). Children can keep their hand in a cold-water
bath longer while tasting sweet (57, 61, 62), and the more they
like sweets, the better its analgesic properties (57).
Salt
Children also prefer substantially higher concentrations of salt
than do adults, and adding salt to foods can drive consumption
(56, 63, 64). However, newborns generally do not react strongly
to moderate concentrations of salt (51, 63); salty taste detection
appears to develop later, perhaps at w2–6 mo (63). Compared
with sweet preferences among children (12), salt avidity is more
complex and less understood.
Salt preference is affected by prenatal experiences (65–67) and
apparently more plastic than is sweet preference. Infants born to
women with moderate to severe morning sickness showed
706S MENNELLA
significantly higher intake of salt solutions at 4 mo of age than did
those whose mothers reported having no more than mild morning
sickness (66). Adolescents and young adults preferred higher
concentrations of salt in a soup base in the laboratory and reported
significantly higher daily salt use if either they had suffered from
infantile vomiting or diarrhea themselves or their mothers had
suffered from morning sickness while pregnant with them (65).
Bitter
Detection and rejection of bitter are evident shortly after birth
(49, 68, 69). Inborn responses have effects on initial acceptance
of foods such as dark-green vegetables. We know less about how
responses to bitter tastes can be modified during early life (but see
below). In animal models, lack of early exposure to bitterness
affects taste system development. In rodents, early taste depri-
vation remodels the central nervous system (70), whereas ex-
perience with bitterness during early life changes bitter taste
preferences in adulthood (71).
Much recent research has focused on understanding how
polymorphisms in the genes that encode taste receptors result in
differential taste patterns in humans, beginning in childhood (age
w3 y onward). Of the 25 bitter taste receptors recently discovered
(see reference 72 for review), TAS2R38 is the most studied. Ge-
netic variation in this receptor translates into individual differences
in taste sensitivity for phenylthiocarbamide, the related chemical
propylthiouracil, and goitrins found in cruciferous vegetables such
as broccoli (73). Although some individuals can detect these bit-
ter-tasting compounds at low concentrations, others need much
higher concentrations to detect them at all, due in part to poly-
morphisms on the TAS2R38 gene (73).
Psychophysical studies have shown that propylthiouracil sen-
sitivity varies with age (58, 74, 75). Children heterozygous for these
variants (AVI/PAV) perceived a bitter taste at lower propylthiouracil
concentrations than did heterozygous adults, with intermediate
thresholds for heterozygous adolescents. These results imply that
bitter sensitivity can change over the life span. How these varia-
tions contribute to individual differences are important areas for
future research.
EFFECTS OF EARLY TASTE EXPERIENCES: FIRST
FOODS, AMNIOTIC FLUID, AND MOTHER’S MILK
Beginning early in life, we learn the rules of cuisine—how,
when, and what to eat. Thus, it is not surprising that preferences
for salt, sweet, and bitter can be modified early through repeated
exposure to flavors in amniotic fluid, mother’s milk, formula,
and solid foods. These experiences help infants develop pref-
erences in later life for foods containing these flavors.
Evidence of developmental plasticity: sweet and salt
Through familiarization, children develop a sense of what
should, or should not, taste sweet (56, 76, 77). Children routinely
fed sugar water during infancy preferred sweeter liquids than did
children who were rarely exposed (78). Children repeatedly
exposed to a sweetened orange-flavored beverage for 8 con-
secutive days during their daily midmorning snack at school not
only gave higher preference rankings for the beverage but also
drank more of it at the end of the exposure period (79).
Most foods and beverages manufactured for pediatric pop-
ulations are very high in both refined sugars or salt or both (80, 81).
Research has shown that adding sugar to beverages (56) and to solid
foods such as spaghetti, ricotta, and jicama (82) increases both
liking and acceptance by young children. But 16% of children’s
total caloric intake now comes from added sugars (83). In addi-
tion, our food supply now includes several low- or no-calorie
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sweeteners that provide sweetness with fewer calories (84), yet we
know little of their impact on children’s acceptance, growth, and
eating patterns (85). We also do not know the long-term conse-
quences of children associating sweet taste with foods that are not
inherently sweet (eg, yogurts, breakfast cereals, sandwich breads).
Like experiences with sweet, preferences for salt taste are
shaped by experiences with foods during the first year of life.
Consumption of moderate and strong salt solutions (86) or salty
cereals (87) by infants ,6 mo of age can modify their dietary
patterns once they start eating table foods. In a prospective study
in 61 infants, those exposed to starchy table foods (eg, grain
products, biscuits), a significant source of sodium in infants’
diets, were significantly more likely to prefer a salty solution
during infancy, and had a greater affinity for salty foods as
preschoolers, compared with children fed lower amounts of salt
(86). Thus, early experiences modulate hedonic responses to
these basic stimuli.
Salt is a critical part of the diet and also a key food preservative
(88); thus, it is not surprising that we have evolved a strong desire to
consume salt (47). However, it is now widely recognized that the
average American consumes excess sodium chloride. The recent
Dietary Guidelines for Americans report (89) recommends
a maximum sodium intake of 2300 mg/d for healthy adults and
1500 mg/d for many subpopulations that together make up .50%
of the total population; sodium intake is well above adequate
amounts of 1000 mg/d at 1–3 y and 1200 mg/d at 4–8 y (90).
In adults, the vast majority of salt consumption comes from
manufactured foods or prepared food at restaurants (91). Thus,
consumers have relatively little control over or even knowledge
of how much salt they consume. A recent Institute of Medicine
report (92) stressed the importance of understanding salt taste and
salt taste preference in children and how early experiences
modulate these sensory responses. Salt in the food environment
of infants and children—and any changes in lowering the overall
amounts—may “have the most profound effects” (92). And the
same may be true for sugar.
The first foods: amniotic fluid and mother’s milk
Relatively little attention has been paid to how humans learn to
like the flavors of foods. During the past 2 decades, we have
systematically investigated the transfer of flavors (dietary vola-
tiles) to amniotic fluid and human breast milk to determine their
effects on behaviors of breastfed infants (see reference 30 for
review). A wide variety of flavors either ingested (eg, fruit, veg-
etables, spices) or inhaled (eg, tobacco, perfumes) by the mother
are transmitted to her amniotic fluid and/or milk, significantly
increasing in intensity in milk within hours after consumption.
Infants’ experience with these volatiles and tastes modifies their
acceptance in mother’s milk, formula, and solid foods.
For weaning, developmental processes must ensure that young
mammals learn both what to eat and how to forage (30, 93). In
a wide variety of species, they first learn about their mothers’
 ONTOGENY OF TASTE PREFERENCES
dietary choices through transmitted flavor cues (see reference 30
for review), which cause neurologic and physiologic changes
that influence later behaviors. In a recent study, nursing young
mice exposed to retronasally perceived odors (flavors) that ac-
tivated specific olfactory receptors on sensory neurons had sig-
nificantly larger glomeruli and significant preferences for the
flavor compared with unexposed mice (94). Thus, early expe-
riences with flavors in milk can result in enhanced detection of
these learned odors later in life, which in nature would facilitate
selection of foods with these odors.
There is also evidence, as reviewed above, that dietary learning
in humans is more pronounced during early life. In the first
randomized clinical study of development of flavor preferences,
we assigned groups of pregnant women to drink carrot juice
during the last trimester of pregnancy or during the first 3 mo of
lactation, or to avoid carrots and carrot juice during both preg-
nancy and lactation. When mothers weaned their infants at w6
mo of age, infants exposed to carrot flavors in either amniotic
fluid or mother’s milk ate more of carrot-flavored cereal and
made fewer faces of distaste than did nonexposed infants.
This continuity in flavor helps the infant transition to solid
foods—for example, breastfed infants are more accepting of
cereal prepared with mother’s milk than cereal prepared with
water (95). Breastfeeding confers greater acceptance of healthy
foods (eg, fruit, vegetables) only if they are part of the mothers’
diet (28, 96). Mothers typically feed children foods that are part
of their own diet and culture, so the breastfeeding infant is
learning about foods his or she will be offered. The sensory
experiences with food flavors in mother’s milk in children
whose mothers eat a varied diet may explain why children who
were breastfed tend to be less picky (97) and more willing to try
new foods during childhood (41, 42).
Formula
In striking contrast to the varied and rich sensory experiences
of breastfed infants, early flavor experience of formula-fed in-
fants is more monotone and lacks the volatiles of the foods of the
mother’s diet. In addition, there are striking differences in fla-
vors among the different types of formulas [eg, cow milk, soy,
partial hydrolysate, extensive protein hydrolysate formula (ePHF)]
and brands of formulas, and formula-fed infants learn to prefer the
flavors of the formula they are fed and foods containing these
flavors (13, 26, 29, 98–102).
For example, the distinctive flavor of ePHF is partly a result of
abundant free amino acids, most notably glutamate (105), a key
compound triggering the “umami” or savory taste quality that
occurs naturally in many foods, such as broths. ePHF also
contains aromatics (eg, sulfur volatiles) that are also found in
cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli. Infants fed ePHF ate
more of infant cereals that tasted savory, sour, and bitter; ate
them at a faster rate; and showed fewer facial expressions of
distaste during feeding than did infants fed milk-based formulas
(102). Both breastfed and ePHF-fed infants showed more posi-
tive facial reactions to savory formula, perhaps because breast
milk (103) and ePHF (105) are both high in glutamate.
Research has also shown that how long infants are fed a type of
formula affects their earliest responses to savory food (27, 102).
In a randomized controlled study, infants fed ePHF for 3 or 8 mo,
but not for 1 mo, showed greater acceptance of a savory broth
relative to a plain broth and consumed it at a faster rate (27). The
707S
effects of early exposure appear to be particularly persistent and
lead to heightened preferences for foods that contain volatiles
also found in ePHF, such as broccoli, several years after the last
formula exposure (101).
These findings have important implications for future research.
Just as breastfed infants each experience a unique flavor palette
through their mother’s breast milk, formula-fed infants are ex-
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posed to different aromas and tastes depending on the type and
brand of formula used. In addition, how and whether the infant
learns to like the flavor depend on the timing and duration of
exposure (see also references 37 and 40). Perhaps most impor-
tant, unlike breastfed infants, formula-fed infants may be at-
tracted to flavors that may not be among the foods the family
eats. Foods disliked by mothers typically are not offered to
children (31); thus, for example, if mothers feed ePHF to their
infants but never eat broccoli themselves, the likelihood that
their infants will express and solidify their preferences for this
vegetable is markedly diminished.
We should emphasize that early milk feedings are typically not
either breast milk or formula but rather a combination of the 2,
with most infants feeding formula when they begin to experience
complementary foods (104). Future research should define both
breastfeeding and formula feeding in terms of duration and
exclusivity, as well as type and brand of formula, because for-
mulas differ profoundly in composition and flavor profiles and
have differential effects on flavor preferences (26, 27, 101, 102)
and growth trajectories (105) during the first year of life (see
reference 13 for previous review).
EVIDENCE-BASED STRATEGIES ON FRUIT AND
VEGETABLE ACCEPTANCE DURING INFANCY
Basic research provides insights into the role of repeated
exposure and variety in how infants learn to like fruit and
vegetables. During the first year of life, infants make the dramatic
transition from an exclusive liquid diet to a mixed diet consisting
of breast milk or formula and a variety of complementary foods,
and likely encounter a wide range of flavors and textures.
Concerns about how to wean children (eg, what types of foods
to introduce, in what order) represent one of the primary matters
mothers discuss with pediatricians. Because of the lack of re-
search, many feeding practices are based on idiosyncratic parental
behavior, family traditions, or medical lore. One example of such
lore relates that infants should not have any previous experience
with fruit before they are introduced to green vegetables because
their inherent sweet preferences will interfere with acceptance of
foods that taste bitter. However, no data support this contention, and
in fact, one study showed no difference in carrot acceptance by
infants with or without previous exposure to fruit (106).
Regardless of early feeding experiences, infants weaned to
complementary foods learn through both repeated exposure (8–
10 exposures) to a particular food and exposure to foods that
vary in both flavor and texture—this, in turn, promotes will-
ingness to eat not only introduced foods but also other, novel
foods (82, 96, 106–111) (see Table 1). Exposing infants to
multiple sensory contrasts (between- and within-meal flavor
variety) also provides more opportunities to develop conditioned
flavor preferences based on the postingestive reinforcing effects
of nutritious foods (107). Feeding a novel food along with a familiar
food might be an optimal combination to progressively accustom
 708S

TABLE 1
Summary of experimental research findings on effects of exposure to fruit and vegetables during infancy
Type/length of exposure Target food or foods Results Study, year (reference)
1
Repeated exposure
8d Pears Increased acceptance of pears; no effect on acceptance Mennella et al, 2008 (107)
of novel vegetable (green beans)
8d Peaches Increased acceptance of peaches Forestell and Mennella, 2007 (96)
9d Carrots Increased acceptance of carrots Gerrish and Mennella, 2001 (106)
10 d Bananas or peas Increased acceptance of target food; seen as Birch et al, 1998 (108)
early as first day of exposure
8d Green beans Increased acceptance of green beans Sullivan and Birch, 1994 (111); Mennella et al, 2008 (107);
Forestell and Mennella, 2007 (96)
10 d Carrots or artichoke Increased acceptance of target food Caton et al, 2012 (110)2
Between-meal variety3
8d Peaches, prunes, apples Increased acceptance of novel fruit (pears); no effect Mennella et al, 2008 (107)
of acceptance of novel vegetable (green beans)
MENNELLA

9d Peas, potatoes, squash Increased acceptance of novel vegetable (carrots) Gerrish and Mennella, 2001 (106)
and meat (chicken)
8d Squash, spinach, carrots Increased acceptance of carrots and spinach; increased Mennella et al, 2008 (107)
acceptance of novel vegetable (green beans)
10–20 d Puréed, lumpy, and diced compared Increased acceptance of diced apples in those who Lundy et al, 1998 (109)
with puréed and diced apple sauce experienced more complex textures
Between- plus within-meal variety4
8d Squash/peas, carrot/peas, squash/spinach Increased acceptance of carrots and spinach; increased Mennella et al, 2008 (107)
acceptance of novel vegetable (green beans)
1
Infant was fed one target food at the same time of day for a number of days.
2
This study included both infants and toddlers.
3
Infant was fed only one target food each day, and the type of target food was alternated daily.
4
Infant was fed 2 target foods each day, and the pairs of foods varied from day to day.

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 ONTOGENY OF TASTE PREFERENCES
infants to novel foods. However, to promote acceptance of bitter-
tasting vegetables, infants must be repeatedly exposed to either
a particular green vegetable or a variety of vegetables, including
some bitter ones.
Although infants’ facial reactivity during feeding is related to
intake, it is governed by different neural substrates; thus, intake
can increase sooner than facial expressions change during feeding
(96)—infants may continue to show facial expressions of distaste
(eg, grimace), even though they are increasing their intake of
a food with repeated exposure. Therefore, caregivers should
focus on the infants’ willingness to eat the food and not just the
facial expressions made during feeding. Ultimately, the goal is
to gradually accustom children to a varied diet that meets
nutritional needs for growth and development and provides
them with opportunities to learn to like and prefer a variety of
healthy foods.
Another important component of foods is their texture. This
area has received scant scientific attention. Nevertheless, there is
some evidence to suggest that the timing of exposure to varied
textures may also be important. For example, 6- to 12-mo-old
infants who experienced a variety of different-textured apple-
sauce (eg, puréed, lumpy, diced) preferred greater texture
complexity when tested later (109). Also, 7-y-old children who
were introduced to lumpy solids after 9 mo of age, compared
with between 6 and 9 mo of age, ate less of many food groups,
including all 10 categories of fruit and vegetables, and were
reported as having significantly more feeding problems (109).
Further research is needed to examine, for example, whether
there is a sensitive period during which lack of exposure to
a variety of textures and flavors hinders acceptance of such
foods in the long term. Likewise, what are the long-term con-
sequences of mothers who eat a “junk food” diet during preg-
nancy and lactation. Emerging animal research models have
shown that high maternal intakes of sugars and fats during
pregnancy and lactation result in altered development of the
central reward system in offspring and excessive junk-food in-
take in postnatal life (112, 113).
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Many of the chronic illnesses that plague modern society, such
as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, derive in large part from
poor food choices, which relate to food and flavor experiences
early in life. Although most people view food choice as a cultural
trait, not directly related to our biology (114), overwhelming
evidence suggests that children’s biology makes them especially
vulnerable to the current food environment of processed foods
high in salt and refined sugars. Thus, the struggle parents have in
modifying their children’s diets to reduce added sugars and salt
appears to have a strong biological basis, emphasizing the need
for new strategies to approach children’s diets.
Although we cannot easily change children’s innate liking of
sweets and salts and disliking of bitterness—we cannot get them
to prefer broccoli to candy—our growing knowledge of how,
beginning very early in life, sensory experience can shape and
modify flavor and food preferences can help us direct children’s
preferences more toward healthy flavors and variety and less
toward excess sweet and salty tastes. Because arrays of dietary
flavors are transmitted from the maternal diet to both amniotic
fluid and mother’s milk, mothers can get their infants off to
a good start by eating a diet rich in healthy foods, both while
709S
they are pregnant and while they breastfeed. Whereas infants fed
formula may initially be less accepting of some fruit and veg-
etables that are not similar to the flavors of their formulas, they,
too, can learn to like these foods: once weaned, both breastfed and
formula-fed infants learn to accept foods through repeated expo-
sure and dietary variety. However, it is important to emphasize that
such foods need to be part of the family’s diet so that once the
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preference develops, the infant continues to be exposed to the food
to maintain the preference, learning to like more complicated fla-
vors and textures. Investigating whether there are optimum periods
when experience promotes greater liking will go a long way toward
promoting healthy eating and, in turn, addressing the many illnesses
related to poor food choices.
I acknowledge the valuable comments from Gary K Beauchamp and the
editorial assistance of Patricia Watson.
The sole author had responsibility for all parts of the manuscript. The au-
thor reported no conflicts of interest.
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