Early Determinants of Fruit and Vegetable Acceptance: study

Our goal was to evaluate the effects of breastfeeding and dietary experiences on acceptance of a fruit and a green vegetable by 4- to 8-month-old infants.

METHODS. Forty-five infants, 44% of whom were breastfed, were assigned randomly to 1 of 2 treatment groups. One group was fed green beans, and the other was fed green beans and then peaches at the same time of day for 8 consecutive days. Acceptance of both foods, as determined by a variety of measures, was assessed before and after the home-exposure period.

RESULTS. During the initial exposure, infants ate more calories from peaches than from green beans. Breastfed infants showed greater liking of peaches, as did their mothers, who ate more fruits in general than did mothers who formula fed. Although formula-feeding mothers ate more green beans, there was no difference in their infants' acceptance of this vegetable. For breastfed and formula-fed infants, repeated dietary exposure to green beans, with or without peaches, resulted in greater consumption of green beans (56.8 vs 93.6 g). Only infants who experienced green beans with peaches displayed fewer facial expressions of distaste during feeding. Mothers were apparently unaware of these changes in acceptance.

CONCLUSIONS. Breastfeeding confers an advantage in initial acceptance of a food, but only if mothers eat the food regularly. Once weaned, infants who receive repeated dietary exposure to a food eat more of it and may learn to like its flavor. However, because infants innately display facial expressions of distaste in response to certain flavors, caregivers may hesitate to continue offering these foods. Mothers should be encouraged to provide their infants with repeated opportunities to taste fruits and vegetables and should focus not only on their infants' facial expressions but also on their willingness to continue feeding.

Because consumption of vegetables and fruits is linked to lower risks of obesity and certain cancers, health organizations throughout the world recommend 5 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, depending on caloric intake. Despite such recommendations, adults are not eating enough fruits and vegetables, and neither are children. The 2004 Feeding Infants and Toddlers study, which was designed to update knowledge on the feeding patterns of US children, alarmingly revealed that toddlers ate more fruits than vegetables and 1 in 4 did not consume even 1 vegetable on a given day. They were more likely to be eating fatty foods and sweet-tasting snacks and beverages and less likely to be eating bitter-tasting vegetables. None of the top 5 vegetables consumed by toddlers was a dark-green vegetable.

From the perspective of the ontogeny of taste,6,7 these data are not surprising because of the functional importance of taste in nutrient selection, especially in children. It has been hypothesized that preferences for sweet tastes evolved to solve a basic nutritional problem of attracting children to sources of high calories during periods of maximal growth, whereas bitter rejection evolved to protect against poisoning, because many toxic substances are bitter and distasteful by nature. Consequently, preferences for foods (eg, dark-green vegetables) and beverages (eg, coffee) that taste bitter are largely learned.