The role of taste in food acceptance at the beginning of complementary feeding Camille Schwartz 1 , Claire Chabanet, Christine Lange, Sylvie Issanchou, Sophie Nicklaus ⁎ Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, UMR6265 CNRS, UMR1324 INRA, Université de Bourgogne, Agrosup Dijon, F-21000 Dijon, France abstract article info Article history: Received 25 January 2011 Received in revised form 28 April 2011 Accepted 29 April 2011 Keywords: Behavior Nutrition Complementary feeding Weaning Food acceptance Taste preference Breastfeeding Introduction of solid foods is a major step in the establishment of eating behavior and is likely to affect children's health. However, the role of taste in acceptance of new foods, in particular in the first months of complementary feeding, is not fully understood and was the aim of the present study. Infants had to be in good health to participate (N = 74). First, the infants' reactions to new foods were recorded by their parents between the ages of 5 and 7 months using a 4-point-scale ranging from very negative to very positive. Taste intensities of infant foods were scored by a trained panel and foods were clustered into groups showing similar taste profiles. Infants' reactions were used to calculate new food acceptance (NFA) defined as the average reaction towards a group of foods showing a similar taste profile. Second, preferences for the five basic tastes over water were measured using a 4-bottle test at 6 months old comparing intake of tastant solutions to water. Taste acceptance was evaluated through ingestion ratio (IR=intake of tastant solutions/intake of tastant solutions and water). NFAs were compared across food groups. Kendall correlations were calculated between NFA and IR. Most reactions (88%) to new foods were positive. However, NFA varied according to the taste profile of the foods: vegetables in which salt or a salty ingredient was added were more accepted than plain vegetables (P b 0.01). On average no rejection of basic tastes was observed. For sweet, sour and umami tastes, significant positive correlations were observed between NFA and IR. Healthy foods like vegetables could be easily introduced in the diet of most, but not all infants. The role of taste preferences in new food acceptance was highlighted: a higher acceptance for a taste was associated to an enhanced acceptance of foods bearing this taste. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Complementary feeding, i.e. introduction of foods other than milk to an infant's diet, is a major step in the development of food behavior, it represents a critical stage from both nutritional and behavioral standpoints, likely to affect the infant's growth and health [1–4]. Complementary feeding is generally started because milk is no longer nutritionally sufficient, thus many studies related to complementary feeding have focused on nutritional aspects. However, behavioral aspects related to the development of intake of complementary foods also need to be understood, since food behavior is essentially learned [5]. The establishment of eating habits early in infancy has received close attention in the past two decades, highlighting in particular the role of repeated exposure [6–10], breastfeeding [11–13] and weaning practices [14] in food acceptance at the beginning of weaning. However, less is known about the direct role played by the sensory qualities of complementary foods (i.e. gustatory, olfactory and textural properties) in shaping new food acceptance at the time of complementary feeding [15,16] or about the role of individual sensory preference in food acceptance [17]. At the beginning of complementary feeding, texture plays an important role in food acceptance because of the limited chewing abilities of infants [10,18]. Beyond the impact of texture, taste could also be one of the main factors determining acceptance of new food, because it is the only sense entirely devoted to guide food intake but little is known on the role of taste in food acceptance during this period of life. The specific role of taste on food behavior has been examined in older children. The consumption of fruit was shown to be related to sour taste preference in 18-month-old infants [19] and in 8–11-year-old boys [20]. In toddlers, intake of a food is modulated by its salt level [21]. In the case of vegetables, their bitterness and to a weaker extent their sourness, are often put forward to explain children's reluctance to eat such foods [22,23]. Individual variability in taste preference, in particular concern- ing the perception of bitterness, was observed in children as well as in adults and can partly be related to a genetic component [24]. The variability in taste perception can impact vegetable intake in children [22]. At the age of complementary feeding, the extent of individual variability in taste preference has received little attention [25]. In the present study, our first objective was to evaluate the acceptance of new foods introduced in the infant's diet between the ages of five and seven months, as a function of their taste profile, that is, of the intensities of the basic taste qualities they bear, i.e. sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami tastes. We expected that the acceptance of new Physiology & Behavior 104 (2011) 646–652 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, 17 rue Sully, BP 86510, F-21065 Dijon, France. Tel: + 33 3 80 69 32 27; fax: + 33 3 80 69 35 18. E-mail addresses: c.schwartz@leeds.ac.uk (C. Schwartz), claire.chabanet@dijon.inra.fr (C. Chabanet), christine.lange@dijon.inra.fr (C. Lange), Sylvie.Issanchou@dijon.inra.fr (S. Issanchou), sophie.nicklaus@dijon.inra.fr (S. Nicklaus). 1 Present address: Biopsychology Group, Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. 0031-9384/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.04.061 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Physiology & Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/phb