Sensitive periods and factors in the early formation of food preferences

Eating behavior is a complex, essentially learned activity critical for development and survival. It can be broken down into several components: when, how, what and how much to eat.1,2 We will mainly describe in this chapter the important periods and factors associated with the development of “what” to eat, or in other words, food preferences and choice. Other aspects relevant to the early development of eating behavior have been previously reviewed.2,3 Although it has previously been shown that food and flavor preference may be influenced by flavor exposure during the prenatal period4-6, we will focus in this chapter on the acquisition of food preferences consecutive to direct exposure of the infant to foods. Detailed descriptions of prenatal influences may be found elsewhere.7,8 Food habits form early during childhood and are likely to track over childhood until the beginning of adulthood.9,10 Understanding the determining factors of the acceptance of the very first foods other than milk, is therefore of particular importance, since these foods will form the basis of the child’s future food repertoire. We will describe here how preferences are acquired during the first years of life, and how they can be modified in preschool children, until about the age of 5 years. We focused in particular on the acquisition of preference for fruits and vegetables, because these foods are generally not as consumed by children as it is recommended. The development of preference for other foods is described elsewhere.11-1