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Growing up with your taste preferences

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Y: You've got to try this salad, Don. It's delicious.

D: No thanks, Yaël. I don't like salads. In fact, I don't care much for the vegetable family period.

Y: What are you talking about?

D: I haven't liked vegetables since as long as I can remember. Actually, no one in my family likes vegetables. It must be in the genes.

Y: I don't think so. Sounds like you've been trained to dislike vegetables. Our lifelong food preferences are largely shaped by the foods we're exposed to early on in childhood. This process begins even before we first taste solid foods. If introduced early enough, we'll happily accept flavors that our own parents might turn their noses up at. For instance, there is an infant formula designed to aid digestion, which has a bitter aftertaste that parents find unappealing. They assume that their babies couldn't possibly like it. And if they wait until their babies are seven months old to introduce the formula, their assumption will probably be right. However, if they introduce the formula to the child within its first four months of life, the baby will accept the formula and continue to accept it.

D: Hmm. So if a mother breastfeeds, does that mean that by eating vegetables, her baby will be exposed to the flavors of vegetables through her breast milk?

Y: You got it. If a mother eats a varied diet, then her breast milk can naturally introduce a wide variety of flavors to her baby early on. And the wider variety of flavors children are exposed to, the more likely they are to eat a varied diet later on in life.

A baby smiles at the camera, showing off two small teeth in their mouth

If introduced early enough, we'll happily accept flavors that our own parents might turn their noses up at. (Thomas Ricker / flickr)

Is there a food you just can't stand, maybe even for as long as you can remember? You know there's nothing wrong with it, but it can feel like disliking this food is in your genes.

It isn't in your genes, you've just been trained to dislike that food. Our lifelong food preferences are largely shaped by the foods we're exposed to early on in childhood. This process begins even before we first taste solid foods. If introduced early enough, we'll happily accept flavors that our own parents might turn their noses up at.

For instance, there is an infant formula designed to aid digestion, which has a bitter aftertaste that parents find unappealing. They assume that their babies couldn't possibly like it. And if they wait until their babies are seven months old to introduce the formula, their assumption will probably be right. However, if they introduce the formula to the child within its first four months of life, the baby will accept the formula and continue to accept it.

So if a mother breastfeeds, and eats her vegetables, her baby will be exposed to the flavors of vegetables through her breast milk. If a mother eats a varied diet, then her breast milk can naturally introduce a wide variety of flavors to her baby early on. And the wider variety of flavors children are exposed to, the more likely they are to eat a varied diet later on in life.

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