Complementary Foods and Flavor Experiences: Setting the Foundation

Abstract

Increased fruit and vegetable consumption early in life may lead to life-long intake of fruits and vegetables, which in turn may be beneficial for weight control and other health outcomes in later life. Although health officials worldwide recommend delaying solid foods until 6 months of age, younger infants often receive solid food, which may affect later obesity rates. The timing of introduction to solid foods is important both nutritionally and developmentally and may affect acceptance of foods both in infancy and later in life. Infants can clearly discriminate the flavors of different fruits and vegetables. Repeated flavor experiences promote the willingness to eat a variety of foods: infants will consume more of foods that have a familiar flavor and are more accepting of novel flavors if they have experience with flavor variety. Many flavors that the mother either ingests or inhales are transmitted to her milk and/or amniotic fluid. Mothers can help the transition from a diet exclusively of milk or formula to a mixed diet by providing the infant familiar flavors in both milk or formula and solid foods. Exposure to a variety of flavors during and between meals appears to facilitate acceptance of novel foods. Providing novelty in the context of a familiar food might prove to be an optimal combination to progressively accustom infants to a diversity of novel foods. When repeatedly exposing infants to flavors of some vegetables that have bitter tastes, mothers should focus not on infants’ facial expressions but on their willingness to eat the food and should continue to provide repeated opportunities to taste the food. Introducing children repeatedly to individual as well as a variety of fruits and vegetables, both within and between meals, might help them be more accepting of fruits and vegetables, which is difficult to enhance beyond toddlerhood.

Exclusive Breast Feeding Practice and Associated Factors in Kemba Woreda, Southern Ethiopia, a Community Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…This finding is consistent with others research findings [17,23,24,25]. The possible explanation for this association might be majority (98.22%) of mother shad no breast milk expression feeding practice to fed their child at home when they move away from home for work purpose.…”

“…This finding is consistent with finding [4,17,23,24], it shows that improved maternal education enhances mothers knowledge, attitudes and practice towards benefits of exclusive breast feeding practice, and empowers them to involved in better economic statues than there counterpart and these empowers them to resist external interferences and pressures from traditional belief and misconception.…”

Fruit and Vegetable Intake During Infancy and Early Childhood

“…35 Previous research suggests that infants who are breastfed may be more likely to accept new foods once complementary foods are introduced, potentially owing to the varied flavors found in breast milk compared with the consistent flavor of formula. 19,23 The study by Perrine et al in this supplement reports a positive association between breastfeeding duration and exclusivity and fruit and vegetable intake at age 6 years, controlling for covariates.…”

Biological, environmental, and social influences on childhood obesity

“…The benefits of breastfeeding appear to be confined to exclusive breastfeeding; mixed infant feeding of breastmilk and formula do not reduce obesity risks associated with formula feeding (76). In addition, the timing and choice of complementary foods introduced into an infant's diet may influence their food preferences in the long term (77). In general, obesity risk is elevated for those who experienced rapid early weight gain in infancy (78)(79)(80).…”