Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Pennsylvania claim to have found periods in
the first seven months of life in which taste
preferences are developed. If it is true, it might mean that the foods that the mother eats during pregnancy
will influence what foods the child prefers later in life. It also means that, since the taste of a mother's milk can
vary according to her diet, that the foods a mother eats while breast feeding could also have a long-term impact on a
child.
I have a hard time believing this, aside from the bit about finding flavor variation in mother's milk. As anyone with a sibling (or with multiple children) will note, most kids have different eating preferences. Most mothers do not radically change their diet from one pregnancy to another. I think that children develop tastes depending on what they are exposed to and how they are introduced to it, not based on some residual "memory" from infancy.
ABC News also notes that "the data could be used to influence how baby formula is designed, so infants are exposed to tastes that will help them enjoy healthy foods later in life." Attempting to program children, in infancy, to pick spinach over sugar? Excuse me while I laugh at how ridiculous that sounds. Just because a child was given spinach flavored formula does not change the fact that they will probably like ice cream the first time they try it.
DIY Foods: Making homemade sausage
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-23-2006 @ 1:36PM
kristin said...
I think that children develop tastes depending on what they are exposed to and how they are introduced to it, not based on some residual "memory" from infancy.
If you believe this, then you certainly have siblings or children that are reasonable about what they eat. Some kids just aren't no matter how open, loving, caring, and adventurous there parents are. Even well before he could talk our 'nephew' wouldn't eat much more than chicken nuggets and bananas and occasionally a bit of pasta with tomato sauce. Refused. Would gag and throw up anything else. Extremely frustrating for his parents who were hoping to raise an adventurous eater and expose him to the wonders and joys of all foods in ways that they hadn't been as children. I don't know the answer, but I've beome an staunch believer that children are born with SOMETHING already developed in their sense of taste.
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4-23-2006 @ 1:55PM
Robyn said...
I like cheese a lot and my mom says that when she was pregnant with me, she craved cheese. Doesn't prove anything, but still interesting I think.
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4-23-2006 @ 7:42PM
nika said...
Any parent knows intuitively from the actual experience of having and raising a child that much of that child's personality, from a willingness to eat broccoli to food texture sensitivities to general demeanor, is patterned into the child and there is not a huge change you can affect beyond providing the kid with a diversity of experiences. Both of my kids will eat anything. (am feeding the toddler blacked cajun flounder as we speak) I didnt train them this way, they came out that way. One child has a very active dsposition, the other is the exact opposite with a zen like mein. I did nothing different (except tear out my own hair with the more active one as I am more like the zen child)
Moms who have breastfed KNOW that the flavor of their food comes through very strongly in the milk. If you eat a mess of broccoli or cabbage, your child will get evil gas, eat onion rings and the milk will also translate that.
I am a mom thats willing to believe that kids can pick up food experiences and perhaps longer term likes and dislike through the breast milk but I would not feed my child broccoli-flavored formula.
A better way to do that is have the child exposed to a vibrant cooking atmosphere where s/he can smell and see and soon eat a variety of foods. (Not just mac and cheese)
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