Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 104, 1 September 2016, Pages 3-9
Appetite

The role of food experiences during early childhood in food pleasure learning

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.08.022Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Eating is learnt in all its aspects, in particular food preferences, which track during life.

  • Learning what to eat takes place early, as of complementary feeding.

  • Experience with foods is the main driver of preference learning.

  • Food sensory and rewarding properties shape learnt preferences.

  • Context of eating can also modulate learnt preferences.

Abstract

Infants are born equipped to ingest nutrients, but have to learn what to eat. This must occur early, because the mode of feeding evolves dramatically, from “tube” feeding in utero to eating family foods. Eating habits established during early years contribute to the development of subsequent eating habits. Therefore, it is fundamental to understand the most important early periods (between birth and 2 years, i.e. onset of food neophobia) for the development of eating habits and the drivers of this development. The role of pleasure in eating is central, especially during childhood when cognitive drivers of food choices may be less prominent than later in life. It is not easy to define and measure pleasure of eating in early childhood. However, it is possible to identify the characteristics of the eating experience which contribute to drive infant's eating and to shape preferences (food sensory properties; food rewarding properties; social context of eating). The learning processes involve repeated exposure (including to a variety of flavours), association with post-absorptive consequences and with contextual signals (including family members). The important early periods for learning food pleasure start being well identified. Beyond the first flavour discoveries during the prenatal and lactation periods (through the infant's exposure to flavours from foods of the mother's diet), the most important phase may be the beginning of complementary feeding. Infants discover the sensory (texture, taste and flavour) and nutritional properties (energy density) of the foods that will ultimately compose their adult diet; parents are still in charge of providing appropriate foods, timing, context for eating. Inter-individual differences in food pleasure learning, related to temperamental dimensions, or to sensory sensitivity also have to be taken into account.

Introduction

Eating is essential for survival, and human infants are born well equipped to ensure proper food ingestion. However, learning to eat has to occur quickly, in particular because the mode of feeding evolves dramatically during the first years of life, from “tube” feeding through the cord in utero to eating family foods by the end of the first year, through milk and complementary feeding. Moreover, very few food likes are inborn, except the enjoyment of the sweet taste: food preferences are learned, essentially during the first years of life (Schwartz, Scholtens, Lalanne, Weenen, & Nicklaus, 2011).

This paper evaluates the role of food experiences, especially during the early childhood, from birth until the age of two years, which corresponds to the onset of food neophobia, in the development of food pleasure in human infants or children. It firstly considers the interest of studying pleasure of eating in early childhood. Secondly, it defines pleasure of eating in young children, and exposes how to measure it. Thirdly, it describes the characteristics of the food experience that may influence the learning of food pleasure, highlighting in particular the role of food properties, and of the social context. A fourth part describes the crucial periods in food pleasure learning. A fifth section describes some of the factors that have been identified to explain inter-individual difference between children in food pleasure learning.

Section snippets

Why studying pleasure of eating during early childhood?

Early childhood is a sensitive period for development, and in particular of healthy eating habits (Schwartz, Scholtens, et al., 2011). Infants are born immature, from a physiological and psychological point of view; and several organs and functions related to eating will dramatically develop during the first years. Brain size triples in the first 2 years (Dekaban, 1978). The gastrointestinal tract is not functional and needs to achieve maturation to tolerate the introduction of nutrients (Neu,

Defining food pleasure in young children

Defining pleasure of eating is not necessarily obvious. In infants, hunger is associated with unpleasant sensations often expressed by crying. Contrarily, eating is associated with a pleasant sensation of fullness and with a calming effect. In its most literal meaning, pleasure may be defined as “a sensation of fulfilment experienced after the satisfaction of a need, a desire” (Larousse, 2014). This definition does not involve that pleasure is a conscious feeling, contrarily to other proposed

Characteristics of food experience influencing the learning of food pleasure

Simply knowing that food pleasure or motivation to eat can be boiled down to the release of opiods or dopamine in some brain areas (Berridge and Kringelbach, 2008, Kenny, 2011) does not help to understand from which types of stimuli pleasure of eating comes from, and how and when it is formed. Is pleasure drawn from sensory properties (appearance, taste, flavour, texture …) of the foods, or in other words to “good taste”? Alternatively, is pleasure associated with the ingestion of calories or

Pre and early post-natal periods

Food and flavour preference may be influenced by flavour exposure during the prenatal period (Hepper et al., 2013, Mennella et al., 2001, Schaal et al., 2000), in relation with the transfer of food flavours in biological fluids such as the amniotic fluid or the maternal milk. Recent papers detailed how prenatal exposure to food flavours may impact food likes later (Cooke and Fildes, 2011, Mennella, 2014).

Early life events are likely to impact not only metabolism functioning (Bateson et al., 2004

Inter-individual differences between children concerning food pleasure learning

The learning effects previously described are those observed for a majority of children, on the basis of mean observations. However, there may be important differences in reactions towards new foods in infants and children. These differences may be related to a general “temperament” in relation to feeding. For instance, infants (or children) who are less enthusiastic eaters, as revealed by the food fussiness and satiety responsiveness dimensions of the Baby Eating Behaviour or the Child Eating

Conclusion

Pleasure of eating in infants and young children is more difficult to measure than food dislike. It may be accessed via facial expressions, global behaviours, food intake, or judgement by another person. Pleasure of eating comes from many aspects of the eating situation: «good taste» or in other words food sensory properties, «plenty of calories» or in other words food post-ingestive and post-absorptive properties, as well as «having a good time» or contextual cues, including emotional context

Acknowledgement

This paper was prepared after the invitation of the author to the first symposium of the ANCA chair, held in Paris on December, 17th 2013. The author wishes to acknowledge the financial support of the Regional Council of Burgundy France (PARI Agral 1), and the European Funding for Regional Economical Development (FEDER) (​38314 AGRAL 1-2012).

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