The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA.
Ann Nutr Metab. 2017;70 Suppl 3:17-25. doi: 10.1159/000478759. Epub 2017 Sep 14.
As most parents and caregivers are aware, feeding children a nutritionally balanced diet can be challenging. Children are born with a biological predisposition to prefer sweet and to avoid bitter foods such as green leafy vegetables. It has been hypothesized that this predisposition evolved to attract children to energy-dense foods while discouraging the consumption of toxins. Although this may have enhanced survival in environments historically characterized by food scarcity, it is clearly maladaptive in many of today's food environments where children are surrounded by an abundance of sweet-tasting, unhealthful foods and beverages that place them at risk for excessive weight gain. Because overweight or obese children tend to become overweight or obese adults who are at risk for a range of cardiovascular diseases, it is of primary importance to develop effective evidence-based strategies to promote the development of healthy eating styles. Fortunately, accumulating evidence suggests that, starting before birth and continuing throughout development, there are repeated and varied opportunities for children to learn to enjoy the flavors of healthful foods. Because flavors are transmitted from the maternal diet to amniotic fluid and breast milk, mothers who consume a variety of healthful foods throughout pregnancy and lactation provide their infants with an opportunity to learn to like these flavors. This in turn eases the transition to healthful foods at weaning. In contrast, infants fed formula learn to prefer its invariant flavor profile, which differs from breast milk, and may initially be less accepting of flavors not found in formula. This process can continue throughout weaning and into childhood if infants are repeatedly exposed to a variety of healthful foods, even if they initially dislike them. These early-life sensory experiences establish food preferences and dietary patterns that set the stage for lifelong dietary habits.
正如大多数家长和看护人所知道的，给孩子提供营养均衡的饮食可能具有挑战性。儿童天生就有一种生理倾向，喜欢甜食，而避免食用苦的食物，如绿叶蔬菜。有人假设，这种倾向是为了吸引儿童食用高热量的食物，同时抑制对毒素的摄入而进化而来的。虽然这在历史上食物匮乏的环境中可能提高了生存能力，但在当今许多儿童周围充斥着大量含糖量高、不健康的食物和饮料的环境中，这种情况显然是不合适的，因为这些食物和饮料会使儿童面临体重过度增加的风险。由于超重或肥胖的儿童往往会成为超重或肥胖的成年人，而这些成年人面临一系列心血管疾病的风险，因此，开发有效的基于证据的策略来促进健康饮食习惯的发展至关重要。幸运的是，越来越多的证据表明，从出生前到整个发育过程中，儿童都有反复的、多样化的机会来学习喜欢健康食物的味道。由于味道是从母体饮食传递到羊水和母乳中的，因此在整个怀孕期间和哺乳期食用各种健康食物的母亲为她们的婴儿提供了一个学习喜欢这些味道的机会。这反过来又可以使婴儿在断奶时更容易过渡到健康食物。相比之下，用配方奶喂养的婴儿学会了更喜欢其不变的味道特征，这与母乳不同，并且可能最初对配方奶中没有的味道不太接受。如果婴儿在断奶期间和整个儿童期反复接触各种健康食物，即使他们最初不喜欢这些食物，这个过程也会继续下去。这些早期的感官体验会建立起食物偏好和饮食模式，为终身的饮食习惯奠定基础。
