Mennella Julie A, Ventura Alison K
Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Nestle Nutr Workshop Ser Pediatr Program. 2011;68:153-63; discussion 164-8. doi: 10.1159/000325783. Epub 2011 Oct 3.
Food habits, an integral part of all cultures, have their beginnings during early life. This chapter reviews the development of the senses of taste and smell, which provide information on the flavor of foods, and discusses how children's innate predispositions interact with early-life feeding experiences to form dietary preferences and habits. Young children show heightened preferences for foods that taste sweet and salty and rejection of that which tastes bitter. These innate responses are salient during development since they likely evolved to encourage children to ingest that which is beneficial, containing needed calories or minerals, and to reject that which is harmful. Early childhood is also characterized by plasticity, partially evidenced by a sensitive period during early life when infants exhibit heightened acceptance of the flavors experienced in amniotic fluid and breast milk. While learning also occurs with flavors found in formulae, it is likely that this sensitive period formed to facilitate acceptance of and attraction to the flavors of foods eaten by the mother. A basic understanding of the development and functioning of the chemical senses during early childhood may assist in forming evidence-based strategies to improve children's diets.
饮食习惯是所有文化不可或缺的一部分，始于生命早期。本章回顾了味觉和嗅觉的发展，它们提供有关食物风味的信息，并讨论了儿童的先天倾向如何与早期喂养经历相互作用，以形成饮食偏好和习惯。幼儿对甜味和咸味食物表现出更高的偏好，而对苦味食物则拒绝接受。这些先天反应在发育过程中很突出，因为它们可能是为了鼓励儿童摄取有益的食物，这些食物含有所需的卡路里或矿物质，并拒绝有害的食物。幼儿期的另一个特点是可塑性，部分证据是生命早期的一个敏感期，在此期间婴儿对羊水和母乳中的味道表现出更高的接受度。虽然婴儿也会学习配方奶中的味道，但这个敏感期的形成可能是为了促进对母亲所吃食物味道的接受和吸引。对幼儿期化学感官的发育和功能有一个基本的了解，可能有助于形成基于证据的策略，以改善儿童的饮食。
