The development of sweet taste: From biology to hedonics

Abstract

From the age of two years, an American child is more likely to consume a sugar-sweetened product than a fruit or vegetable on any given day—a troubling statistic, given that food preferences are established early in childhood, as well as the strong association between this dietary pattern and increased risk of developing a number of chronic diseases. Here, we review the ontogeny and biopsychology of sweet taste, highlighting how a biological drive to prefer sweetness at high concentrations during childhood, which would have conferred an advantage in environments of scarcity, now predisposes children to overconsume all that is sweet in a modern food system replete with added sugars. We review the power of sweet taste to blunt expressions of pain and mask bad tastes in foods as well as factors that predispose some to consume high-sugar diets, including experiential learning and taste preferences driven in part by genetics. Understanding children’s unique vulnerability to our current food environment, rich in both nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners, is highlighted as a priority for future research to develop evidence-based strategies to help establish healthy dietary behaviors early in life.

Providing healthy diets for young children: the experience of parents in a UK inner city

“…This finding relates to a number of studies carried out on the aetiology of food preferences in children including biological factors such as genetic predispositions and evolutionary derived preferences for food high in sugar and fat (Birch & Fisher, 1998; Mennella, Bobowski, & Reed, 2016) in addition to other, social psychological antecedents, arguably more amenable to change. These include attitudinal, social and economic variables (Drewnowski, 1997), individual differences such as fussiness, enjoyment of food and food responsiveness (Russell & Worsley, 2016), extensive and irresponsible marketing aimed at children (Boyland & Halford, 2013) and parental control behaviours which reinforce consumption of snack or treat food (usually high in sugar or fat) in non-food contexts (Lu, Xiong, Arora, & Dubé, 2015).…”

Pediatric Adapted Liking Survey: A Novel, Feasible and Reliable Dietary Screening in Clinical Practice

“…About 60% of children reported liking whole and dried fruits, which can offer sweetness equivalent to sugar sweeteners, and substitute for highadded sugar foods and beverages in the diet. Experts in the development of sweet preference support that exposing children to less sweetness, both sugar and nonnutritive sweeteners, supports the development and maintenance of preference for healthy sweets (e.g., whole fruits) [Mennella et al, 2016]. Tailoring dietary recommendations to food preference patterns can result in effective behavioral interventions [Turner-McGrievy et al, 2013].…”

“…Although we are born liking sweet, risk of dental caries has been linked to genetic variants in sweet (GLUT2, TAS1R2 [Izakovicova Holla et al, 2015]) and bitter (TAS2R38 [Yildiz et al, 2016]) taste receptors that influence sweet sensitivity and preference. Furthermore, sweet preference increases during times of physical growth, fueled with readily available highly sweet foods [Mennella et al, 2016]. It is of interest how to assess food preferences as a tool for dental caries and obesity prevention efforts.…”

Complementary Foods from Rice and Six Other Ghanaian Food Ingredients Provide Sufficient Macro and Micronutrients for Infants 6-12 Mo of Age

“…Aroma may lead to the rejection of complementary food by infants if it turns out to be unattractive. Acceptance of food by infants has been shown to correlate with its taste, with sweetness being the most preferred [22,23]. Taste of porridge from the 6 initial blends ranged from "dislike slightly" to "like very much" and was in the order LR-6, LR-4, LR-1>LR-2>LR-3>LR5.…”