Early nutrition: impact on the development of food preferences and eating behavior

Early nutritional status not only impacts health on the long term but it also impacts food preferences and eating behavior at different stages in the developing child. Moreover, eating behavior in early childhood tracks until adulthood 1. Modes of feeding evolve in the first years of life, starting from cord feeding, going through a transitional phase of milk feeding to ultimately end by eating the family diet. These transitions involve a series of adaptations which will ultimately impact food preferences, eating behavior, and as a result weight and health status. Understanding the development of eating behavior in the current context of a wide availability of palatable foods is therefore central to address key societal issues such as the epidemics of obesity and to provide parents with science-based feeding recommendations. This presentation aims at showing the impact of breastfeeding and of practices of complementary feeding on eating behavior in the first year of life. Maternal milk bears flavors from the foods ingested by the mother, and its tastes differ from that of formula milk: it will be shown how breastfeeding impacts the infant’s food preferences around the time of complementary feeding, as shown by experimental studies in human infants and by a longitudinal study 2,3. At this age, infants display varied reactions toward new foods according to the sensory properties of the foods 4. Moreover, based on results from varied experimental studies, it will be shown how complementary feeding practices, in particular introduction of a variety of foods, impact further food acceptance 4.References1.Nicklaus, S. et al. Appetite, 44 : 289-297, 2005.2.Hausner, H., et al. Clinical Nutrition 29, 141-148, 2010.3.Schwartz, C., et al. British Journal of Nutrition, Jul 4: 1-8, 2012.4.Nicklaus, S. Appetite 57, 812-5, 2011