Early determinants of fruit and vegetable acceptance

Abstract

Objective: Our goal was to evaluate the effects of breastfeeding and dietary experiences on acceptance of a fruit and a green vegetable by 4- to 8-month-old infants.

Methods: Forty-five infants, 44% of whom were breastfed, were assigned randomly to 1 of 2 treatment groups. One group was fed green beans, and the other was fed green beans and then peaches at the same time of day for 8 consecutive days. Acceptance of both foods, as determined by a variety of measures, was assessed before and after the home-exposure period.

Results: During the initial exposure, infants ate more calories from peaches than from green beans. Breastfed infants showed greater liking of peaches, as did their mothers, who ate more fruits in general than did mothers who formula fed. Although formula-feeding mothers ate more green beans, there was no difference in their infants' acceptance of this vegetable. For breastfed and formula-fed infants, repeated dietary exposure to green beans, with or without peaches, resulted in greater consumption of green beans (56.8 vs 93.6 g). Only infants who experienced green beans with peaches displayed fewer facial expressions of distaste during feeding. Mothers were apparently unaware of these changes in acceptance.

Conclusions: Breastfeeding confers an advantage in initial acceptance of a food, but only if mothers eat the food regularly. Once weaned, infants who receive repeated dietary exposure to a food eat more of it and may learn to like its flavor. However, because infants innately display facial expressions of distaste in response to certain flavors, caregivers may hesitate to continue offering these foods. Mothers should be encouraged to provide their infants with repeated opportunities to taste fruits and vegetables and should focus not only on their infants' facial expressions but also on their willingness to continue feeding.

Figures

FIGURE 1

Examples of types of facial expressions displayed during the first 2 minutes of feeding: brow lowerer (A), inner brow raise (B), squint (C), nose wrinkle (D), upper-lip raise (E), and gape (F).

FIGURE 2

Amounts of peaches consumed (A) and number of distaste expressions displayed per spoonful of peaches (B) by breastfeeding and formula-feeding infants during their first feeding of peaches at the Monell Chemical Senses Center and number of times lactating and formula-feeding mothers reported eating fruits during the previous week (C). a P < .05, compared with breastfed infants (A and B) or lactating mothers (C).

FIGURE 3

The cumulative number of brow movements (brow lowerers and inner brow raises combined), squints, upper-lip raises, and nose wrinkles made during green bean feeding, before and after the home-exposure period. Panel A shows data from group GB infants who were fed only green beans and panel B shows data from group GB-P infants who were fed both green beans and peaches during the 8-day home-exposure period. Infants in group GB-P displayed fewer brow movements (P < .02), squints (P < .01), and distaste expressions overall (P < .001) per spoonful of green beans after the 8-day home-exposure period, compared with before the exposure period.