Elsevier

Advances in Nutrition

Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2016, Pages 211S-219S
Advances in Nutrition

Vegetable and Fruit Acceptance during Infancy: Impact of Ontogeny, Genetics, and Early Experiences

https://doi.org/10.3945/an.115.008649Get rights and content
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Abstract

Many of the chronic illnesses that plague modern society derive in large part from poor food choices. Thus, it is not surprising that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, aimed at the population ≥2 y of age, recommends limiting consumption of salt, fat, and simple sugars, all of which have sensory properties that we humans find particularly palatable, and increasing the variety and contribution of fruits and vegetables in the diet, to promote health and prevent disease. Similar recommendations may soon be targeted at even younger Americans: the B-24 Project, led by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA, is currently evaluating evidence to include infants and children from birth to 2 y of age in the dietary guidelines. This article reviews the underinvestigated behavioral phenomena surrounding how to introduce vegetables and fruits into infants' diets, for which there is much medical lore but, to our knowledge, little evidence-based research. Because the chemical senses are the major determinants of whether young children will accept a food (e.g., they eat only what they like), these senses take on even greater importance in understanding the bases for food choices in children. We focus on early life, in contrast with many other studies that attempt to modify food habits in older children and thus may miss sensitive periods that modulate long-term acceptance. Our review also takes into consideration ontogeny and sources of individual differences in taste perception, in particular, the role of genetic variation in bitter taste perception.

breastfeeding
eating behavior
infant feeding
fruits
vegetables
diet
infants
taste
repeated exposure
variety

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Published in a supplement to Advances in Nutrition. Presented at the Roundtable on “Science and Policy: Adopting a Fruitful Vegetable Encounter for our Children”. The roundtable was sponsored by the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and was held in Chicago, IL, 10–11 November 2014. The roundtable and supplement publication were supported by an unrestricted grant from the Alliance for Potato Research and Education. The roundtable speakers received travel funding and an honorarium for participation in the meeting and manuscript preparation.

Supported by NIH grants R01HD37119 and R01HD072307 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Author disclosures: JA Mennella, AR Reiter, and LM Daniels, no conflicts of interest.

The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the NIH.