The Evolution of Taste and Perinatal Programming of Taste Preferences (original) (raw)

Flavor Perception and Preference Development in Human Infants

Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2017

As most parents and caregivers are aware, feeding children a nutritionally balanced diet can be challenging. Children are born with a biological predisposition to prefer sweet and to avoid bitter foods such as green leafy vegetables. It has been hypothesized that this predisposition evolved to attract children to energy-dense foods while discouraging the consumption of toxins. Although this may have enhanced survival in environments historically characterized by food scarcity, it is clearly maladaptive in many of today's food environments where children are surrounded by an abundance of sweet-tasting, unhealthful foods and beverages that place them at risk for excessive weight gain. Because overweight or obese children tend to become overweight or obese adults who are at risk for a range of cardiovascular diseases, it is of primary importance to develop effective evidence-based strategies to promote the development of healthy eating styles. Fortunately, accumulating evidence sug...

Prenatal and postnatal flavor learning by human infants

Pediatrics, 2001

Background. Flavors from the mother's diet during pregnancy are transmitted to amniotic fluid and swallowed by the fetus. Consequently, the types of food eaten by women during pregnancy and, hence, the flavor principles of their culture may be experienced by the infants before their first exposure to solid foods. Some of these same flavors will later be experienced by infants in breast milk, a liquid that, like amniotic fluid, comprises flavors that directly reflect the foods, spices, and beverages eaten by the mother. The present study tested the hypothesis that experience with a flavor in amniotic fluid or breast milk modifies the infants' acceptance and enjoyment of similarly flavored foods at weaning. Methods. Pregnant women who planned on breastfeeding their infants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups. The women consumed either 300 mL of carrot juice or water for 4 days per week for 3 consecutive weeks during the last trimester of pregnancy and then again during the first 2 months of lactation. The mothers in 1 group drank carrot juice during pregnancy and water during lactation; mothers in a second group drank water during pregnancy and carrot juice during lactation, whereas those in the control group drank water during both pregnancy and lactation. Approximately 4 weeks after the mothers began complementing their infants' diet with cereal and before the infants had ever been fed foods or juices containing the flavor of carrots, the infants were videotaped as they fed, in counterbalanced order, cereal prepared with water during 1 test session and cereal prepared with carrot juice during another. Immediately after each session, the mothers rated their infants' enjoyment of the food on a 9-point scale. Results. The results demonstrated that the infants who had exposure to the flavor of carrots in either amniotic fluid or breast milk behaved differently in response to that flavor in a food base than did nonexposed control infants. Specifically, previously exposed infants exhibited fewer negative facial expressions while feeding the carrot-flavored cereal compared with the plain cereal, whereas control infants whose mothers drank water during pregnancy and lactation exhibited no such difference. Moreover, those infants who were exposed to carrots prenatally were perceived by their mothers as enjoying the carrot-flavored cereal more compared with the plain cereal. Although these same tendencies were observed for the amount of cereal consumed and the length of the feeds, these findings were not statistically significant. Conclusions. Prenatal and early postnatal exposure to a flavor enhanced the infants' enjoyment of that flavor in solid foods during weaning. These very early flavor experiences may provide the foundation for cultural and ethnic differences in cuisine. Pediatrics 2001;107(6).

Flavor Sensing in Utero and Emerging Discriminative Behaviors in the Human Fetus

Psychological Science, 2022

The diet of pregnant women exposes fetuses to a variety of flavors consisting of compound sensations involving smell, taste, and chemesthesis. The effects of such prenatal flavor exposure on chemosensory development have so far been measured only postnatally in human infants. Here, we report the first direct evidence of human fetal responsiveness to flavors transferred via maternal consumption of a single-dose capsule by measuring frame-by-frame fetal facial movements. Pregnant women and their fetuses based in the northeast of England were involved in this study from 32 to 36 weeks’ gestation. Fetuses exposed to carrot flavor ( n = 35) showed “lip-corner puller” and “laughter-face gestalt” more frequently, whereas fetuses exposed to kale flavor ( n = 34) showed more “upper-lip raiser,” “lower-lip depressor,” “lip stretch,” “lip presser,” and “cry-face gestalt” in comparison with the carrot group and a control group not exposed to any flavors ( n = 30). The complexity of facial gesta...

Early Influences on the Development of Food Preferences

Current Biology, 2013

The ability to perceive flavors begins in utero with the development and early functioning of the gustatory and olfactory systems. Because both amniotic fluid and breast milk contain molecules derived from the mother's diet, learning about flavors in foods begins in the womb and during early infancy. This early experience serves as the foundation for the continuing development of food prefer ences across the lifespan, and is shaped by the interplay of biological, social, and environmental factors. Shortly after birth, young infants show characteristic taste preferences: sweet and umami elicit positive responses; bitter and sour elicit negative responses. These taste preferences may reflect a biological drive towards foods that are calorieand protein-dense and an aversion to foods that are poisonous or toxic. Early likes and dislikes are influenced by these innate preferences, but are also modifiable. Repeated exposure to novel or disliked foods that occurs in a positive, supportive environment may promote the acceptance of and eventually a preference for those foods. Alternatively, children who are pressured to eat certain foods may show decreased preference for those foods later on. With increasing age, the influence of a number of factors, such as peers and food availability, continue to mold food preferences and eating behaviors.

Analysis of the Sensory and Hedonic Impacts of Sweet and Bitter Tastes in Perinatally Underfed Rats

Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 2014

Newborn rats discriminate tastes and generate gustofacial response (GFR) because the neuronal substrate is already operating. The oral application of sucrose or quinine hydrochloride produces a specific GFR. We analyzed the effects of perinatal undernutrition on the GFR development of rats at two cue concentrations. In the undernourished group, pregnant dams received different percentages of a balance diet. After birth, prenatally underfed pups continue the undernourishment by remaining for 12 h with a foster dam, and for 12 h with a nipple-ligated mother. Cues were presented as a single droplet of sucrose, sodium chloride, or quinine at low or high concentrations onto the lips at postnatal days (PDs) 1 and 3, and mouth-opening (MOF) and lip-licking frequencies (LLF) were noted. On PD 1 the undernourished group showed smaller MOF increases in response to low salt and quinine stimuli than the controls but no differences at high concentrations. On PD 3, both low and high concentrations of the sucrose and quinine cues significantly increased the MOF in the underfed compared to the control group. Low but not high salt decreased LLF on PD1 in the underfed compared to the control group. On PD 3 the undernourished pups showed significant increases of LLF with low quinine compared with the control rats, but the reverse was observed with high quinine. These data suggest that perinatal undernutrition affects the development of the sensory and hedonic aspects of taste causing changes in GFR expression.

Discrimination of taste and preference for sweet in premature babies

Early Human Development, 1985

A modified method for registering non-nutritive sucking behaviour with and without taste stimulation enabled us to study taste perception of premature babies. We wanted to study how babies who had no extrauterine taste experience reacted to one or more stimuli with water and 33% glucose. Eight randomly selected healthy newborns (three of them being SGA without further symptoms), exclusively fed by gastric tube, were studied. The mean gestational age at the time of the study was 35.5 weeks. They were studied five times with water and five times with glucose just before feeding. In seven babies the sucking response to glucose was greater than that to water from the first trial onwards. Sucking response increased with repeated glucose stimulation, but remained the same with water stimulation. The eighth baby behaved completely differently. We concluded from our results that premature babies with a postconceptional age of 35 weeks can discriminate between sweet and not-sweet. The greater sucking response to glucose than to water at the first trial implies a genetic factor in the preference for sweet in humans. sucking behaviour; premature babies; taste discrimination; sweet-preference

Taste Perception and Food Choices

Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 2012

Objectives: The extent to which variation in taste perception influences food preferences is, to date, controversial. Bitterness in food triggers an innate aversion that is responsible for dietary restriction in children. We investigated the association among genetic variations in bitter receptor TAS2R38 and food choices in healthy children in the Mediterranean area, to develop appropriate tools to evaluate the relation among genetic predisposition, dietary habits, and feeding disorders. The aims of the study were to get a first baseline picture of taste sensitivity in healthy adults and their children and to explore taste sensitivity in a preliminary sample of obese children and in samples affected by functional gastrointestinal diseases. Methods: Individuals (98 children, 87 parents, 120 adults) were recruited from the general population in southern Italy. Bitterness sensitivity was assessed by means of a suprathreshold method with 6-propyl-2-thiouracil. Genomic DNA from saliva was used to genotype individuals for 3 polymorphisms of TAS2R38 receptor, A49P, A262 V, and V296I. Food intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. Results: Children's taste sensation differed from that of adults: we observed a higher frequency of supertasters among children even in the mother-child dyads with the same diplotypes. Among adults, supertaster status was related with proline-alanine-valine (taster allele) homozygous haplotype, whereas supertaster children were mainly heterozygous. Regarding the food choices, we found that a higher percentage of taster children avoided bitter vegetables or greens altogether compared with taster adults. Taster status was also associated with body mass index in boys. Conclusions: Greater sensitivity to 6-propyl-2-thiouracil predicts lower preferences for vegetables in children, showing an appreciable effect of the genetic predisposition on food choices. None of the obese boys was a supertaster.

Early developmental change in bitter taste responses in human infants

Developmental Psychobiology, 1992

Human newborns (birth-6 days) and older infants (14-180 days) were allowed to ingest both urea (0.12-0.24 M) in a mildly sweet diluent and the diluent alone, and multiple measures of responsivity were obtained (relative intake, sucking behavior, and hedonic ratings based on facial expressions and body movements). For newborns, there was no indication of rejection of urea relative to the diluent in measures of intake or sucking behavior; rather, their responses were predominantly controlled by the order of presentation of the two tastes. In contrast, older infants tended to reject all concentrations of urea according to these measures. Hedonic ratings provided an indication of limited rejection of the bitter taste by newborns, but older infants were still found to respond more consistently. These data suggest there is an early developmental change in bitter taste perception. 0 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Influence of Human Milk on Flavor and Food Preferences

Current Nutrition Reports, 2017

Purpose of Review The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the literature that examines sensory experiences during early feeding practices and the influence human milk has on flavor and food preferences. Recent Findings Research suggests that the development of flavor and food preferences begins during the prenatal period through exposure to amniotic fluid and continues in the postnatal period during breastfeeding. Breastfeeding provides an infant with a unique variety of constantly changing chemosensory experiences as human milk contains flavors from foods that are part of the mother's diet. These early flavor exposures are believed to help with the transition to complementary foods during later infancy and early childhood. Compared to formula-fed infants who are exposed to limited sensory experiences due to its constant flavor, breastfed infants demonstrate greater acceptance of novel foods when they are part of the maternal diet. Studies show that toddlers, preschool, and school-aged children who were breastfed as infants demonstrate more positive acceptance of a wider variety of healthy foods and are more accepting of new foods and are less likely to be picky eaters. Summary Infant exposure early in life to a wide variety of flavors from healthy and nutrient-rich foods through amniotic fluid and human milk contributes to an individual's unique set of taste preferences that can lead to healthier food choices and optimal health.