No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Does an Early Socialization into a Food Culture Condition Lifelong Food Preferences? Evidence from a Retrospective Study
Abstract
The influence of early formed dietary practices on food choices and preferences during adulthood has often been assumed but rarely adequately demonstrated given the difficulty of studying the subject matter with conventional laboratory or observational research designs. This article examines this assumption by analyzing the information from 31 structured interviews on the respondents' current preferences for combinations of six side dishes with bread or mămăligă (boiled cornmeal mush, similar to polenta). All the respondents had consumed mămăligă in their childhood but in their adulthood had switched to bread following the social and economic upheavals from 1960s-1970s Romania. The results show that a) for specific combinations, physiological factors and/or cultural norms that defined bread as a 'prestigious' food have been capable of overriding the effects of early socialization with mămăligă as the accompanying food and b) that consumers continue to prefer certain side dishes with mămăligă even after decades of predominant consumption of bread although confounding factors might account for such preferences. These findings qualify the expectation that an early familiarization with healthy eating habits will promote this desired lifestyle during adulthood by showing that physiological and socio-cultural factors are capable of overriding its effects on hedonic preferences.
In this study, we examined the intergenerational transmission of collective action from parents to children. Using a mixed‐method approach combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, we analysed data from 100 dyads of activist parents in Chile (involved in the mobilizations against the dictatorship during the 1980s) and their adult children (N = 200). The quantitative analysis addressed the role of conversations about politics in the family. The results provided evidence of a direct association between those conversations and the frequency of participation in conventional and radical actions by the children, and an indirect association via children’s knowledge about parental involvement in past social movements. The qualitative phase, which used interviews and thematic analysis on a subsample of 24 dyads (N = 48), confirmed the role of political conversations, but also revealed the influence of other factors such as cultural consumption and joint political participation. This phase allowed the identification of factors that facilitate or hinder family transmission. Overall, the study highlights the relevance of family as a critical site of socialization that enables the intergenerational transmission of protest.
This review considers papers published in the last decade in relation to tracking between early food habits (here, habits acquired before 10 years) and later eating patterns. This review analyzes first how later eating patterns may be associated with the mode of milk feeding (formula vs. breast feeding; type of formula) and with the way complementary feeding is conducted (timing and type/variety of foods offered). Beyond the first year, this review focuses on the tracking of food preferences, food variety, portion size, dietary intake and eating traits. Most studies revealed moderate but significant associations between mode of milk feeding and complementary feeding practices and later eating patterns. When the baseline period is beyond 1 year, a moderate level of tracking is also observed for most eating behaviors reported (food preferences; food variety; dietary intake; eating traits), revealing a consistency over time in eating behavior; however eating behavior is likely to evolve when children grow older.
To review the scientific literature on the tracking of dietary patterns from childhood to adolescence.
A search of the MEDLINE/PubMed, Lilacs and SciELO databases was performed, using the following key words: "tracking", "dietary patterns" and "childhood/adolescence" and their respective synonyms. A total of 45 abstracts were found and, after the inclusion criteria were applied, 13 articles were included. The tracking of dietary patterns was assessed by three main statistical analyses: (Pearson or Spearman) correlation coefficients, kappa coefficient and probability analysis.
The tracking of dietary patterns ranged from weak to moderate between the childhood-childhood and childhood-adolescence periods. During adolescence, there appears to be no tracking.
Dietary patterns in childhood may continue until adolescence, although such patterns may be changed or discontinued throughout adolescence.
The objective of the present study was to explore the consistency of dietary choices made by children as they grow up. The dietary habits of 342 healthy children were reported annually from 5 to 13 years on a forty-five-item FFQ and analysed by factor analysis. The same two principal dietary patterns--'Healthy' and 'Unhealthy'--emerged each year, and their consistency was assessed using Tucker's congruence coefficient (φ). Individual dietary z-scores for both of these patterns were then calculated every year for each child, and their consistency was measured by Pearson's correlation coefficient (r). Linear mixed-effects modelling was used to investigate individual trends and to quantify reliability of the individual dietary z-scores. Dietary patterns were moderately consistent and systematic over time (0·65 ≤ φHealthy ≤ 0·76; 0·62 ≤ φUnhealthy ≤ 0·78). Individual choices were also consistent year-on-year (0·64 ≤ rHealthy ≤ 0·71; 0·57 ≤ rUnhealthy ≤ 0·68). Reliability rose from 70 % with a single measure to over 90 % with four consecutive measures. The quality of diet diminished over time in 29 % of the children and improved in only 14 %. Dietary habits appear to be set early and seldom improve spontaneously.
This article presents a meta-analysis of research on evaluative conditioning (EC), defined as a change in the liking of a stimulus (conditioned stimulus; CS) that results from pairing that stimulus with other positive or negative stimuli (unconditioned stimulus; US). Across a total of 214 studies included in the main sample, the mean EC effect was d = .52, with a 95% confidence interval of .466-.582. As estimated from a random-effects model, about 70% of the variance in effect sizes were attributable to true systematic variation rather than sampling error. Moderator analyses were conducted to partially explain this variation, both as a function of concrete aspects of the procedural implementation and as a function of the abstract aspects of the relation between CS and US. Among a range of other findings, EC effects were stronger for high than for low contingency awareness, for supraliminal than for subliminal US presentation, for postacquisition than for postextinction effects, and for self-report than for implicit measures. These findings are discussed with regard to the procedural boundary conditions of EC and theoretical accounts about the mental processes underlying EC.
The stability of dietary habits through various life-stages is not well understood. A better understanding of the tracking of diet over time could have implications for health promotion as well as for the planning of nutritional epidemiology studies. We examined the stability of dietary intakes of children and adolescents over six years.
As part of the European Youth Heart Study, in 1998-9, a 24-h dietary recall was performed on over one thousand 9- and 15-year-olds in Sweden. In 2004-5, 40% returned to the follow-up study. These 452 subjects (273 15- and 179 21-year-olds) were assigned to age- and gender-specific tertiles of intakes of food groups, energy, selected nutrients and energy density (low, mid and high) at each time point. The agreement between the classification of subjects into tertiles at both time points was examined using Cohen's weighted kappa and other stability coefficients. We included a dropout analysis and considered the effect that energy mis-reporting might have on our results.
Fair tracking was seen between childhood and adolescence for the milk, fil and yoghurt food group (kappa = 0.30), and between adolescence and young adulthood for fruit (kappa = 0.24). Slight tracking was observed for most other food groups and fair to slight tracking for all nutrients studied. Only membership of the high milk, fil and yoghurt tertile could be predicted from membership at baseline, in children. Excluding potential energy mis-reporters did not affect the results.
Despite the long time between data collections, and the method of dietary data collection used, evidence for slight tracking was observed for most food groups and nutrients over these six years.
Evaluative conditioning refers to changes in the liking of a stimulus that are due to the fact that the stimulus has been paired with other, positive or negative stimuli. Although evaluative conditioning appears to be subjected to certain boundary conditions, significant evaluative conditioning effects have been obtained using a large variety of stimuli and procedures. Some data suggest that evaluative conditioning can occur under conditions that do not support other forms of Pavlovian conditioning, and several models have been proposed to account for these differences. In the present article, the authors summarize the available literature, draw conclusions where possible, and provide suggestions for future research.
Young children accurately compensate for energy-dense preloads consumed before test meals. The accuracy of compensation seems to deteriorate as a function of age.
The hypothesis that accurate energy compensation varies by age, body mass index, and individual characteristics of children and their mothers was tested.
Energy intake (EI) from a test meal was measured in 74 children aged 6-9 y 90 min after the ingestion of no-energy (NE), low-energy (LE), or high-energy (HE) preload snacks. The NE preload consisted of 250 mL water, the LE preload consisted of a 56-g muffin + a 250-mL orange drink (783 kJ), and the HE preload consisted of a 56-g muffin + a 250-mL orange drink (1628 kJ).
A significant dose-related reduction in EI was found after the preloads; younger children adjusted more effectively than did older children, although total EI (including preload energy) indicated that the adjustment was not accurate. The compensation index (COMPX) differed by preload and age group; COMPX scores were higher between the NE and LE preloads (younger children: 44.4 +/- 9.3%; older children: 57.0 +/- 11.6%) than between the NE and HE preloads (39.6 +/- 4.9%; 31.3 +/- 6.2%) and the LE and HE preloads (35.2 +/- 7.8%; 7.4 +/- 9.8%). This finding indicates a more consistent response across preloads and a greater sensitivity to energy load by younger than by older children. High interindividual variation and low intraindividual variation in COMPX was found. The tendency to over- or undereat in response to the preloads (deviation from perfect) correlated directly and positively with maternal concerns about child overweight, not with actual BMI.
The children adjusted their EIs in response to different preloads, and the younger children did so more effectively than did the older children. Poor short-term energy compensation may constitute a behavioral marker for positive energy balance.
Links between diet in childhood and the prevention of disease in adulthood have been established. This longitudinal dietary survey provided quantitative evidence of dietary change from adolescence to adulthood, in Northumberland, England.
To report longitudinal dietary change in 198 respondents between the ages of 12 and 33 years, to explore dietary 'tracking' between the same time points and to describe the effects of gender, socio-economic status and location on dietary change.
A longitudinal study recorded dietary change from adolescence to adulthood. Two 3-day food diaries were collected in 1980 and 2000 from the same 198 respondents. Foods consumed were assigned to the five categories in the Balance of Good Health (BGH). Demographic and socio-economic information were obtained in 1980 and 2000.
Intakes of foods containing fat and/ or sugar and milk and dairy foods decreased (p < 0.01 and p < 0.031, respectively), while intakes of fruits and vegetables increased (p < 0.01). Intakes of bread, other cereals and potatoes (p = 0.002, r = +0.219); fruits and vegetables (p < 0.01, r = +0.256) and meat, fish and alternatives (p = 0.026, r = +0.158) 'tracked' from adolescence to adulthood. Men had increased intake from meat, fish and alternatives and decreased milk and dairy foods more than female respondents (p = 0.003 and p = 0.019). Respondents who had moved away from Northumberland had a greater increase in intake of fruits and vegetables compared with those who remained in the local (p = 0.010). Individuals who had moved to a lower socio-economic group had increased their intake of bread, other cereals and potatoes (p = 0.040).
Food intake changed considerably in a direction more in the line with current dietary recommendations. Food intake in adolescence was a significant, but not strong, predictor of intake in adulthood. Dietary change is influenced by variables including gender, location and socio-economic status.
IN AN INTRODUCTION TO COLLOQUIAL BENGALI, PUBLISHED IN 1970, a farmer is asked, "What crops do you raise?" The hypothetical Bangladeshi villager replies, "I raise paddy, jute, chili and mustard," to which the enquirer responds, "Don't you raise corn or wheat?" This elicits the reply: "No sir, corn or wheat can't be raised in my farm" (R. Islam 1970:96).
The anticipation and sensation of pleasure derived from food consumption are critical influences on food acceptance and selection. Domestically, agriculturally, and industrially, a high proportion of food development and production resources are invested in ensuring that products will be highly “liked” when eaten. Although a variety of common procedures are used to identify how well certain combinations of sensory qualities are generally liked, there can be considerable variation between and within individuals and groups, including dynamic changes as a result of experience with the food itself. An understanding of the mechanisms by which likes are acquired and expressed may help in understanding this variance, and can be applied to identify, predict and possibly influence potential changes in liking over time, to ensure that food products deliver long-term satisfaction to consumers.
Food products can have significant influence on consumers’ affective states. Flavours can be used to evoke affective states, and affective information has been shown to influence how much of a beverage is consumed. In this study we investigated whether novel flavours could be conditioned to two different specific positive states (“feeling active” and “feeling relaxed”). We associated flavours with these states by using different types of positive film clips and tested how this influenced liking and different behavioural attributes using implicit measures, in particular self-focus and activity. Participants consumed one of two unfamiliar flavoured drinks (one liked and one neutral) for five consecutive days while watching film clips evoking active, relaxed, or neutral states. We examined the levels of activity and self-focus evoked by the conditioned drinks using implicit measures. Activity was higher in the active film clip condition than in the neutral control condition. For the liked flavour, positive conditioning reduced initial liking, compared to the control condition. The pattern was different for the neutral flavour. Results show that it is possible to condition flavours to induce specific positive states and that this process affects product liking.
Three studies were conducted to examine the relationship of pre-test ratings of consumer food preferences (liking/disliking in response to a food name), expected liking/disliking, and situational appropriateness with post-test measures of liking/disliking, consumption and satisfaction in specific eating situations. A pre-test survey of 115 consumers assessed general preferences, expected liking/disliking, and appropriateness of 22 foods and beverages in 10 different use situations. The data showed a strong association between pre-test ratings of food appropriateness and expected liking/disliking. In the first experiment, subjects received an appropriate or inappropriate food at a lunch meal. In the second, subjects received a food item in either an appropriate or inappropriate social situation. Liking/disliking and consumption were poorly predicted from simple food preference measures. Better prediction was obtained by a combination of pre-test variables, but the variance accounted for was low. A likely factor influencing the results was the subjects' pre-test assumptions about the specific characteristics of the meal situation and how these matched or mismatched the actual meal conditions. In the third experiment, subjects received food items that varied in sensory quality at either an appropriate or inappropriate mealtime. In addition to the variables measured in Experiments 1 and 2, pre-test expected sensory attributes, post-test sensory attributes, judgments of whether the foods were “better or worse than expected” and “satisfaction” were collected. Results showed significant effects of both food quality and food appropriateness on all post-test variables, and confirmed the high degree of association between appropriateness and expected liking/disliking ratings found previously. Food preferences were again found to be poor predictors of post-test measures, while appropriateness and expected liking ratings were found to be good predictors of post-test appropriateness and food satisfaction ratings. Lastly, satisfaction was better predicted by both pre- and post-test variables than were either liking/disliking or consumption measures. Overall, the results show that the prediction of any aspect of consumer behavior toward foods in real life situations is extremely difficult. Although judicious use of multiple pre-test variables can improve prediction, much of the variability in liking, satisfaction, or consumption still remains unaccounted.
The effects of several social-affective presentation contexts on the formation of preschool children's food preferences were investigated. The children's preferences for a set of snack foods were initially assessed and a neutral food, neither highly preferred nor nonpreferred, was selected for each child. This snack food was then presented to the child in one of four social-affective contexts: (1) as a reward; (2) noncontingently, paired with adult attention; (3) in a nonsocial context; (4) at snack time. 16 children participated in each condition. Half of the children in each condition received a sweet snack food, half a nonsweet snack food. Results indicated that presenting foods as rewards or presenting them noncontingently paired with adult attention produced significant increases in preference, and the effects persisted for at least 6 weeks following termination of the presentations. In contrast, no consistent changes in preference were noted when the foods were presented in a nonsocial context or at snack time. The results suggest that the social-affective context in which foods are presented is extremely important in the formation of young children's food preferences.
In the mere-repeated-exposure paradigm, an individual is repeatedly exposed to a particular stimulus object, and the researcher records the individual's emerging preference for that object. Vast literature on the mere-repeated-exposure effect shows it to be a robust phenomenon that cannot be explained by an appeal to recognition memory or perceptual fluency. The effect has been demonstrated across cultures, species, and diverse stimulus domains. It has been obtained even when the stimuli exposed are not accessible to the participants’ awareness, and even prenatally. The repeated-exposure paradigm can be regarded as a form of classical conditioning if we assume that the absence of aversive events constitutes the unconditioned stimulus. Empirical research shows that a benign experience of repetition can in and of itself enhance positive affect, and that such affect can become attached not only to stimuli that have been exposed but also to similar stimuli that have not been previously exposed, and to totally distinct stimuli as well. Implications for affect as a fundamental and independent process are discussed in the light of neuroanatomical evidence.
Much of the research in ingestive behavior has focused on the macronutrient composition of foods; however, these studies are incomplete, or could be misleading, if they do not consider the energy density (ED) of the diet under investigation. Lowering the ED (kcal/g) by increasing the volume of preloads without changing macronutrient content can enhance satiety and reduce subsequent energy intake at a meal. Ad libitum intake or satiation has also been shown to be influenced by ED when the proportions of macronutrients are constant. Since people tend to eat a consistent weight of food, when the ED of the available foods is reduced, energy intake is reduced. The effects of ED have been seen in adults of different weight status, sex, and behavioral characteristics, as well as in 3- to 5-year-old children. The mechanisms underlying the response to variations in ED are not yet well understood and data from controlled studies lasting more than several days are limited. However, both population-based studies and long-term clinical trials indicate that the effects of dietary ED can be persistent. Several clinical trials have shown that reducing the ED of the diet by the addition of water-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables was associated with substantial weight loss even when patients were not told to restrict calories. Since lowering dietary energy density could provide effective strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity, there is a need for more studies of mechanisms underlying the effect and ways to apply these findings.
This study showed that a means-end relationship between two snacks exerts a negative influence on preference for the means snack in the contingency. Two snacks ranked of approximately equal medium appeal were individually chosen from an array by each of 86 children (ages 4 years, 4 months to 7 years, 2 months). Children were then assigned to a means-end condition (where one snack was eaten as a means of gaining the other), a temporal order control group (where one snack was presented and eaten before the other), or a mere exposure control group (where the children chose the order in which they ate the two snacks). Post-treatment rankings of the snacks showed that children in the means-end group came to devalue the means snack relative to the reward snack, despite the demonstrably equal prior appeal of the two snacks. Children in the temporal order and mere exposure control groups did not come to prefer the two snacks preferentially. Implications of the finding that adults can affect children's preferences by relatively minor variations in the manner of presentation are discussed.
This study has evaluated the impact of food choices at 2–3 years old on food preferences later in life, by following up the same subjects. Early preferences were estimated through recordings of food choices conducted in a nursery canteen in children aged 2–3, from 1982 to 1999. The children were free to choose the composition of their lunch from among a varied offering of eight dishes. The same subjects (n=341) were contacted in 2001–2002 and so their ages varied from 17–22 (n=91), 13–16 (n=68), 8–12 (n=99) to 4–7 (n=83). Their present preference for the 80 foods most frequently presented at the nursery canteen was assessed through a questionnaire. Five food categories were studied: vegetables, animal products, cheeses, starchy foods and combined foods. The ranking of preference for the different food categories changed especially after puberty. However, regressions performed by food category indicated that for most categories, individual present preference was highly linked to individual preference at 2–3 years old. The link was the stronger for cheeses, followed to a lesser extent by animal products and vegetables. Present preferences increased with age for vegetables and they decreased with age for animal products only in females (to a lesser extent, they decreased with age for starchy foods and cheeses). Analyses by specific foods confirmed the global analysis. Individual present preference was linked to individual early preference for all mature cheeses and for 50% of the foods for other categories: most of these items were strongly flavoured. This study showed that preferences were stable from 2- to 3-year-old until young adulthood and that some changes in preference occurred during adolescence.
The food supply and dietary preferences have changed in recent decades.
We studied time- and age-related individual and population-wide changes in a dietary quality score and food groups during 1985-2006.
The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study of 5115 black and white men and women [aged 18-30 y at year 0 (1985-1986)] assessed diet at examinations at study years 0, 7 (1992-1993), and 20 (2005-2006). The dietary quality score, which was validated by its inverse association with cardiovascular disease risk, summed 46 food groups rated by investigators as positive or negative on the basis of hypothesized health effects. We used repeated-measures regression to estimate time-specific mean diet scores and servings per day of food groups.
In 2652 participants with all 3 diet assessments, the mean (±SD) dietary quality score increased from 64.1 ± 13.0 at year 0 to 71.1 ± 12.6 at year 20, which was mostly attributable to increased age. However, the secular trend, which was estimated from differences of dietary quality scores across time at a fixed age (age-matched time trend) decreased. The diet score was higher in whites than in blacks and in women than in men and increased with education, but demographic gaps in the score narrowed over 20 y. There tended to be increases in positively rated food groups and decreases in negatively rated food groups, which were generally similar in direction across demographic groups.
The CARDIA study showed many age-related, desirable changes in food intake over 20 y of observation, despite a secular trend toward a lower diet quality. Nevertheless, demographic disparities in diet persist.
Most young children do not meet current dietary recommendations, consuming too many energy-dense foods and too few nutrient-dense foods like vegetables. We compared two approaches to increasing children's liking of vegetables by having them repeatedly taste small portions of vegetables that were initially not liked, presented either alone (repeated exposure; RE) or with a liked dip (associative conditioning; AC). We first conducted a between-subjects experiment, where classrooms at a childcare center were each assigned a vegetable that most children did not like, and individual children were assigned to either the RE or AC condition. A second experiment was conducted to test whether the same results would be obtained using a within-subjects design, in which each child was assigned to repeatedly taste two vegetables that were not liked, one presented with dip and one without. In both experiments, vegetable liking was assessed before, during, and after a series of eight tasting trials, and vegetable intake was measured before and after the tasting trials in Experiment 1. In both experiments, children's vegetable liking increased from pre- to post-test, but there was no evidence of associative conditioning effects. Increases in vegetable liking, as well as intake, were similar across conditions. Although the addition of the liked dip did not augment overall effects on vegetable liking, there was some evidence that the liked dips could be used to encourage initial tasting of vegetables. In both experiments and both conditions, increases in liking were detected by the sixth exposure to the vegetable. Additional tasting trials did not produce additional increases in liking, but the increases in liking were sustained throughout the experiments. The current evidence suggests that administering few small tastes of vegetables that are initially not liked can have a lasting impact on preschool children's liking and intake of those vegetables.
The concept of learned satiety (LS) suggests that associations between the sensory quality and post-ingestive effects of foods may lead to acquired control of meal-size. Although a recent study appeared to support LS since participants learned to eat more of a flavoured cereal with lower energy density (ED) after repeated experience, suggesting that they adjusted voluntary intake to ensure adequate energy was consumed, the large serving portion used in training may have lead to over-satiation. To investigate this further, groups of 12 men were assigned to one of four conditions based on the trained serving portion (150 or 300 g) and presence or absence of cues to differentiate high and low ED versions. In the absence of sensory cues, neither mass consumed nor rated pleasantness differed between high and low ED conditions either before or after training, resulting in greater energy intake in the high ED condition. When sensory cues differentiated ED, intake increased significantly post-training in both the high ED condition trained with the small portion and low ED condition trained with the large portion, and flavour pleasantness changed similarly. Moreover hunger increased significantly after the food was tasted in both conditions where intake increased. These data provide further evidence that learning can moderate meal-size dependent on energy content, but suggest that these changes are driven by changes in flavour liking rather than LS.
In societies such as the U.S.A. many foods are considered appropriate or inappropriate for particular meals. Although some previous work has indicated that hedonic ratings reflect these cultural patterns, little is known about the impact of time of day and "appropriateness" in particular on food acceptance and intake. The purpose of the present study was to explore the role of appropriateness on consumption and hedonic ratings of breakfast and non-breakfast foods. Experiment 1 examined these factors in the context of four meals in which the type of menu (breakfast or lunch) was factorially combined with time of day (breakfast time or lunchtime). Experiment 2 examined hedonic ratings obtained in the morning and afternoon using samples of the same foods and rating methods used in Experiment 1. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 but employed the rating methods used in Birch et al. (1984). Results from the three experiments indicated that the appropriateness or inappropriateness of when foods were served had no effect upon hedonic ratings and no clear impact on food intake. Postmeal hunger ratings in Experiment 1, however, provided some support for the salience of appropriateness. These results suggest that appropriateness may be more relevant to food selection than to consumption or palatability per se.
To determine whether a food's acceptability changes with time of day and degree to which a food is appropriate for a given mealtime, preferences were obtained both in the morning and the afternoon for a set of foods which included items appropriate "for breakfast", "for dinner", or for either mealtime. A second purpose of the study was to determine whether such cultural rules regarding food appropriateness had been acquired by preschool children and whether the pattern of shifting acceptability with time of day predicted for adult subjects would also appear in the preference data of the children. Participants included 25 adults and 30 three- and four-year-old children. All subjects were seen twice, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon for two identical sessions. Half of the subjects in each age group were seen first in the morning, half were seen first in the afternoon. In these sessions food preferences for the set of foods varying in mealtime appropriateness were assessed and the foods were categorized as "for breakfast" of "for dinner". The preference data of both the adults and the children showed significant preference shifts with time of day, with breakfast items more preferred in the morning than the afternoon and dinner items more preferred in the morning than the afternoon. These shifts were larger for adults than for children but not significantly so.
Objective To compare children's food preferences longitudinally and identify factors related to food preferences.Design Mothers completed the Food Preference Questionnaire for children at 2 to 3 years of age (T1), 4 years (T2), and 8 years (T3) and for themselves at T1 and T3 Both groups completed a Food Neophobia Scale at T3.Subjects 70 child/mother pairs who had participated continuously in the longitudinal study.Statistical analyses performed Changes in food preferences over time were tested with paired t tests and correlations. Consistency percentages were calculated by summing the consistent matches (like/like) for each food between two time periods. Similarly, concordance percentages were calculated for child/mother pairs by summing the concordant matches for each food. General linear models were developed to identify influences on children's food preferences.Results Although children liked most foods, the number of liked foods did not change significantly during the 5 to 5.7 years of the study. The strongest predictors of the number of foods liked at age 8 years (R2=0.74) were the number liked at 4 years (P
In order to determine the effects of mere exposure on liking for edible substances, male undergraduate subjects tasted previously unfamiliar tropical fruit juices 20, 10, 5 or 0 times. After this exposure phase, subjects rated each of the juices in terms of their liking for its taste. The results showed a strong exposure effect such that the more frequently a juice had been tasted, the better it was liked. It was suggested that the mere exposure effect may play a role in the acquisition of food preferences.
Using a developmental systems perspective, this review focuses on how genetic predispositions interact with aspects of the eating environment to produce phenotypic food preferences. Predispositions include the unlearned, reflexive reactions to basic tastes: the preference for sweet and salty tastes, and the rejection of sour and bitter tastes. Other predispositions are (a) the neophobic reaction to new foods and (b) the ability to learn food preferences based on associations with the contexts and consequences of eating various foods. Whether genetic predispositions are manifested in food preferences that foster healthy diets depends on the eating environment, including food availability and child-feeding practices of the adults. Unfortunately, in the United States today, the ready availability of energy-dense foods, high in sugar, fat, and salt, provides an eating environment that fosters food preferences inconsistent with dietary guidelines, which can promote excess weight gain and obesity.
Liking for a novel non-caffeinated drink decreases when regular caffeine consumers are exposed repeatedly to that drink when caffeine-deprived; however, this dislike is not manifest if people are subsequently tested when not caffeine-deprived (Yeomans et al., 2000a). The present study investigated the basis for this effect, and in particular, whether the decrease in liking observed is specific to the drink flavour experienced during caffeine-deprivation. Twenty-four caffeine consumers evaluated five novel drinks (fruit teas) at pre-training. For each person, the drink with the median liking score was subsequently consumed mid-morning after 12 h caffeine-deprivation on four non-consecutive training days. Rated pleasantness of this drink decreased significantly over these four training days. Subjects subsequently re-evaluated all five drinks on a test day when half the consumers were given 100mg caffeine two hours prior to testing, with the remainder receiving placebo. The group who remained deprived continued to express depressed liking for the exposed (target) drink, compared to their pre-training rating of that drink. In contrast, rated pleasantness was not depressed compared to pre-training ratings in the group who had received caffeine prior to testing. Rated pleasantness of the four unexposed drinks was equivalent to pre-training ratings, for both groups, suggesting that the effect of exposure on ratings of the target drink was specific to that drink. As expected, there was some evidence of improved mood in the group receiving caffeine on the test day; but as it was only ratings of the target drink that differed across groups, the group difference cannot be attributed to general effects of mood on use of the rating scale. These data suggest that the reversal of acquired changes in liking for drinks when consumers are changed from a caffeine-deprived to an undeprived condition is best explained in terms of state-dependent learning, that is specific to the drink experienced during caffeine-deprivation.
Sodium supplementation during or after exertion improves hydration. We hypothesized that it may therefore improve well being after exercise-induced sodium loss. To avoid cognitive-biased interpretations of the taste of salt, we used untasted salt in swallowed capsules to condition preference for the flavor of a drink. In four 90 min exercise sessions, 2-3 days apart, participants drank 100 ml of a novel drink and swallowed a capsule, either empty (placebo), or containing 200, 400 or 600 mg NaCl (n=20 in each group). We found both increases and decreases in flavor preference conditioning, depending on salt dose and level of sweat loss: in groups receiving salt supplementation, high levels of sweat loss induced greater flavor conditioning of preference than low levels of sweating. However, 600 mg NaCl conditioned a flavor aversion relative to placebo, which was greater in exercisers sweating little. We conclude that since untasted salt conditioned flavor preference in direct proportion to the amount of sweat lost, replenishment of the sodium lost in sweat induces a rewarding physiological state. The results provide further evidence for the physiological determinants of human salt appetite, and buttress the evidence that post-ingestive effects condition food preferences. Conditioned flavor preference may also provide a useful measure of the benefits of other nutrient additives in sports drinks.
Dietary patterns are useful in nutritional epidemiology, providing a comprehensive alternative to the traditional approach based on single nutrients. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study is a prospective cohort study with a 21-year follow-up. At baseline, detailed quantitative information on subjects' food consumption was obtained using a 48 h dietary recall method (n 1768, aged 3-18 years). The interviews were repeated after 6 and 21 years (n 1200 and n 1037, respectively). We conducted a principal component analysis to identify major dietary patterns at each study point. A set of two similar patterns was recognised throughout the study. Pattern 1 was positively correlated with consumption of traditional Finnish foods, such as rye, potatoes, milk, butter, sausages and coffee, and negatively correlated with fruit, berries and dairy products other than milk. Pattern 1 type of diet was more common among male subjects, smokers and those living in rural areas. Pattern 2, predominant among female subjects, non-smokers and in urban areas, was characterised by more health-conscious food choices such as vegetables, legumes and nuts, tea, rye, cheese and other dairy products, and also by consumption of alcoholic beverages. Tracking of the pattern scores was observed, particularly among subjects who were adolescents at baseline. Of those originally belonging to the uppermost quintile of pattern 1 and 2 scores, 41 and 38 % respectively, persisted in the same quintile 21 years later. Our results suggest that food behaviour and concrete food choices are established already in childhood or adolescence and may significantly track into adulthood.
Unlabelled:
This study examined acquired liking of flavour preferences through flavour-flavour and flavour-nutrient learning under hungry or sated conditions in a naturalistic setting. Each participant consumed one of three versions of a test drink at home either before lunch or after lunch: minimally sweetened (
Control:
3% sucrose, 40 kcal), artificially sweetened (3% sucrose 40 kcal plus artificial sweeteners ASPARTAME) and sucrose-sweetened (SUCROSE: 9.9% sugar, 132 kcal). The test drink was an uncarbonated peach-flavoured iced tea served in visually identical drink cans (330 ml). Participants preselected as "sweet likers" evaluated the minimally sweetened flavoured drink (conditioned stimulus, CS) in the same state (hungry or sated) in which they consumed the test drink at home. Overall, liking for the CS flavour increased in participants who consumed the SUCROSE drink, however, this increase in liking was significantly larger when tested and trained hungry than sated, consistent with a flavour-nutrient model. Overall increases in pleasantness for the CS flavour in participants who consumed the SUCROSE drink when sated or the ASPARTAME drink independent of hunger state, suggest that flavour-flavour learning also occurred. These results are discussed in light of current learning models of flavour preference.