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PubMed1998

Sensory responses to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) or sucrose solutions and food preferences in young women.

Genetic sensitivity to the bitter taste of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) has been linked with a greater number of food aversions and reported rejection of some bitter foods. Healthy young women (n = 121) were divided into nontasters, tasters and supertasters of PROP according to their PROP detection thresholds and the ratio of intensity ratings of PROP versus NaCl solutions. Hedonic response profiles to sucrose solutions distinguished between likers and dislikers of sweet. All subjects completed a 171-item food preference checklist. Food preference data were reduced by factor analyses, subscales of which were tested for reliability using Cronbach's alpha. Greater PROP sensitivity was associated with lower acceptance of coffee, cruciferous vegetables, tart citrus fruit, dark breads, and selected fats. In contrast, liking for sucrose solutions was linked to liking for sugar in tea and coffee, but not to any special pattern of food acceptance. Strategies aimed at increasing the consumption of grains, vegetables, and fruit should consider the role of inherited taste makers and their potential impact on dietary habits.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

The 30-second effect: an experiment revealing the impact of television commercials on food preferences of preschoolers.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether televised food commercials influence preschool children's food preferences. DESIGN: In this randomized, controlled trial, preschool children viewed a videotape of a popular children's cartoon either with or without embedded commercials. Children were then asked to identify their preferences from pairs of similar products, one of which was advertised in the videotape with embedded commercials. Preschoolers' parents were interviewed to determine children's demographic characteristics and media use patterns. SUBJECTS: Forty-six 2- to 6-year-olds from a Head Start program in northern California. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: For demographic and media use characteristics, univariate data were examined and Student t and chi 2 tests were used to test for differences between the control and treatment groups. We calculated the Cochran Q statistic to assess whether the proportion of those choosing advertised food items was significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group. RESULTS: Children exposed to the videotape with embedded commercials were significantly more likely to choose the advertised items than children who saw the same videotape without commercials (Qdiff = 8.13, df = 1, P < .01). CONCLUSIONS/APPLICATIONS: Even brief exposures to televised food commercials can influence preschool children's food preferences. Nutritionists and health educators should advise parents to limit their preschooler's exposure to television advertisements. Furthermore, advocates should raise the public policy issue of advertising and young children, especially given the recent epidemic of childhood obesity and the ever-changing media environment.

Advertising↗

PubMed1988

Food preferences and aversions and dietary pattern in anorexia nervosa patients.

Food intake, meal frequency and occurrence of vomiting and purging were assessed in 20 female patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) by two dietitians by means of a dietary history over the past month. Ten lean healthy women and 10 of normal weight served as two groups of controls. Two self-administered questionnaires, consisting of 51 questions each were developed and applied: one to get an insight into food preference and food aversion, another to evaluate the dietary pattern. A significant difference in energy intake was found between the patient group and both control groups, but not between the two control groups. Self-induced vomiting and weekly laxative use was only mentioned by the patients with AN. Between the patients and the controls significant differences were found in preference and aversion for several food products such as sugar, potatoes, meat, dates and bananas as well as in eating habits. Stepwise discriminant analysis of the data of the two questionnaires resulted in eight food items and three dietary pattern statements which specify group differences. It is concluded that the questionnaires used reveal important differences between anorexia patients and control subjects in attitudes towards foodstuffs, and can be a useful tool for early diagnosis when validated in larger samples of patients and controls.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

NMDA receptor antagonists impair memory for nonspatial, socially transmitted food preference.

Rats avoid unfamiliar foods and learn to prefer those that they smell on the breath of conspecifics. Hippocampal lesions produce rapid forgetting of this socially acquired memory. The authors report that NMDA receptor antagonists impair this memory. Rats given CPP were trained in the social transmission of food preference task. Normal rats showed robust memory 72 hr later. CPP-injected rats performed normally 24 hr, but randomly 72 hr, after training. Spatial context was irrelevant: Rats trained and tested in different rooms performed the same as rats trained and tested in 1 room. MK801 and intrahippocampal injections of APV produced amnestic effects similar to CPP. Thus, NMDA receptor activation is crucial for the persistence of socially acquired, hippocampus-dependent, nonspatial memory.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Development of food preferences.

Using a developmental systems perspective, this review focuses on how genetic predispositions interact with aspects of the eating environment to produce phenotypic food preferences. Predispositions include the unlearned, reflexive reactions to basic tastes: the preference for sweet and salty tastes, and the rejection of sour and bitter tastes. Other predispositions are (a) the neophobic reaction to new foods and (b) the ability to learn food preferences based on associations with the contexts and consequences of eating various foods. Whether genetic predispositions are manifested in food preferences that foster healthy diets depends on the eating environment, including food availability and child-feeding practices of the adults. Unfortunately, in the United States today, the ready availability of energy-dense foods, high in sugar, fat, and salt, provides an eating environment that fosters food preferences inconsistent with dietary guidelines, which can promote excess weight gain and obesity.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Dogs acquire food preferences from interacting with recently fed conspecifics.

Social transmission of food preferences has been documented in many species including humans, rodents, and birds. In the current experiment, 12 pairs of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) were utilized. Within each pair, one dog (the demonstrator) was fed dry dog food flavored with either basil or thyme. The second dog (the observer) interacted with one demonstrator for 10 min before being given an equal amount of both flavored foods. Observers exhibited a significant preference for the flavored diet consumed by their demonstrators, indicating that dogs, like rats, prefer foods smelled on a conspecific's breath.

Animals↗

PubMed1985

Type and strength of food preferences of individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome.

The results of these experiments indicate that, contrary to popular belief, individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome demonstrate definite food preferences. These data are consistent with and extend recent findings of Caldwell & Taylor (1983). The general conclusions are that the foods preferred by most individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome are sweet, and that the strength of the food preference is related to the level of cognitive ability (the higher the cognitive level, the stronger the preference). A comparison of the food preferences of an obese, non-Prader-Willi group with similar cognitive deficiencies would be worthy of empirical investigation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Factor-analytic structure of food preferences in four-year-old children in the UK.

Studying the correlative structure of young children's food preferences may help us to understand the influences on the development of eating habits. We investigated patterns of food preferences in 214 same-sex twin pairs aged 4 to 5 years. Mothers completed a questionnaire of their children's likes and dislikes for 94 common foods. The proportion of children having tried each food, and their liking for it, were examined. These two measures were strongly positively correlated (r=0.61). Principal components analysis was used to examine the inter-relationships among preferences for 76 foods that had been tried by at least 75% of the children. Four factors emerged, interpreted from food factor loadings as "Vegetables", "Desserts", "Meat and Fish", and "Fruit", explaining 24% of the variance. Thus, children tended consistently to like or dislike foods within each of these factor categories, independently of patterns of liking in the other factors. Factor loadings were unrelated to average liking for or likelihood of exposure to these foods. The distribution of factor loadings refutes the common assumption that simple sensory properties such as sweetness, saltiness or fattiness predict food preferences. Instead, a preference structure may develop for more complex multimodal sensory syntheses, which could have both biological and learnt bases. Future work comparing the food preference structure of mono- and dizygotic twins should help determine the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences.

Child Behavior↗

PubMed2002

Changes in appetite, food preference, and eating habits in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Despite numerous reports of changes in satiety, food preference, and eating habits in patients with frontotemporal dementia, there have been few systematic studies. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the frequency of changes in eating behaviours and the sequence of development of eating behaviours in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease, using a caregiver questionnaire. METHODS: Three groups of patients were studied: frontal variant frontotemporal dementia (fv-FTD) (n = 23), semantic dementia (n = 25), and Alzheimer's disease (n = 43). Level of education and dementia severity was similar in the three groups. The questionnaire consisted of 36 questions investigating five domains: swallowing problems, appetite change, food preference, eating habits, and other oral behaviours. RESULTS: The frequencies of symptoms in all five domains, except swallowing problems, were higher in fv-FTD than in Alzheimer's disease, and changes in food preference and eating habits were greater in semantic dementia than in Alzheimer's disease. In semantic dementia, the developmental pattern was very clear: a change in food preference developed initially, followed by appetite increase and altered eating habits, other oral behaviours, and finally swallowing problems. In fv-FTD, the first symptom was altered eating habits or appetite increase. In Alzheimer's disease, the pattern was not clear although swallowing problems developed in relatively early stages. CONCLUSIONS: Change in eating behaviour was significantly more common in both of the frontotemporal dementia groups than in Alzheimer's disease. It is likely that the changing in eating behaviours reflects the involvement of a common network in both variants of frontotemporal dementia-namely, the ventral (orbitobasal) frontal lobe, temporal pole, and amygdala.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

The development of food preferences in cats: the new direction.

The processes of food and fluid acquisition are necessary for the preservation of the animal's integrity. This review describes behavioral investigations concerning the role of one experiential factor in early infancy, that of, prior diet and its effect on the development of solid food preferences in cats. The results are presented in a broader investigative context, which includes behavioral data obtained both on precocial and altricial species. The emphasis of this review is on the two tendencies established by prior dietary experiences with nutritionally complete foods on later food preferences: the primacy effect and the novelty effect. The primacy effect is a preference of adult animals for their rearing diet, while the novelty effect is a preference for a novel diet. The latest attempt to explain these apparently contradictory effects is described. That is, if the taste environment is rich in many tastes of food in early life, the potential palatability of some foods may be masked or overshadowed; in contrast, if that environment is restricted to one specific food, the potential palatability of some foods may be revealed.

Aging↗

PubMed1987

Food preferences, nutrient intake and nutritional status in cancer patients.

Food intake and nutritional status were estimated in 34 cancer patients (14 patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 20 patients with relapse of different cancers) and 25 healthy subjects (control group). A two-month dietary history based on Burke's method was used to estimate food intake. Nutritional status was expressed by weight, anthropometric parameters and hematologic parameters. The patients' intake of cheese, eggs, rye bread, and poultry was reduced compared to controls. The difference in food preferences resulted in a higher energy supply from carbohydrate and a lower intake of indigestible carbohydrate, vitamin B12, iron and iodine in patients than in controls. The groups did not differ in anthropometric parameters, but a decreased total serum protein, albumin and hemoglobin was observed in patients, whereas their alpha-globulin levels were increased. Thus, food preferences in cancer patients seem to be associated with insufficient intake of nutrients.

Body Weight↗

PubMed2000

Young women's food preferences and taste responsiveness to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP).

This study examined links between taste responsiveness to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), a heritable trait, and sensory responses to six common foods. Sixty-three young women subjects were divided into PROP tasters (n = 25) and nontasters (n = 25), based on their responses to PROP-impregnated filter paper and mean bitterness intensity ratings for seven PROP solutions. Thirteen subjects were excluded as unclassifiable. The 50 subjects sampled Brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach, black coffee, soy milk, and soybean tofu. Sensory ratings for bitter intensity; pleasantness of taste, odor, and texture, and overall food acceptability scores were obtained using nine-point category scales. All subjects completed a food-preference checklist and a modified food-frequency questionnaire. PROP tasters rated Brussels sprouts as more bitter than did nontasters (p<0.05). Subjects who perceived the foods as more bitter also rated them as less pleasant and less acceptable. Taste preferences and food preferences were linked. Self-reported food preferences and self-reported frequencies of consumption for the same foods were also linked. Taste factors and food preferences may impact dietary choices and the frequency of food consumption.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Social learning of a food preference in male and female Mongolian gerbils is facilitated by the anxiolytic, chlordiazepoxide.

Social transmission of a food preference in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) depends on the presence of a social bond between the interacting animals. An "observer" gerbil can acquire a preference for a novel food item from a familiar and, or related "demonstrator" animal. However, exposure to an unfamiliar and unrelated demonstrator gerbil does not lead to acquisition of a food preference, even though the extent of social interaction and likelihood of transmission of food information is unaffected. Likewise, individual preexposure to a novel food does not affect diet preference in individual animals. Here we show that oral, nongavage, administration of the benzodiazepine anxiolytic, chlordiazcpoxide (CDP, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg) has significant dose-associated differential facilitatory effects on social learning in male and female gerbils, while having no significant effects on either individual learning or total food consumption. These results suggest that the CDP mediated reduction of the anxiety associated with the interactions between unfamiliar/unrelated gerbils facilitates social learning. These findings also rise the possibility of sex differences in socially related anxiety and the effects of CDP on social learning in gerbils.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Food preferences, practices, and cancer-related food and nutrition knowledge of southwestern American Indian youth.

BACKGROUND: Pathways to Health is a cancer prevention and health promotion curriculum for fifth- and seventh-grade Navajo and Pueblo students living in New Mexico. METHODS: A diet and nutrition questionnaire was administered to 1007 fifth- and seventh-grade students before beginning the Pathways to Health intervention. Sections of the questionnaire included listing favorite foods, frequency of intake of selected foods (e.g., "How often do you eat vegetables?"), targeted food practices (e.g., "When you eat chicken, do you eat the skin?"), and applied dietary fat and fiber knowledge questions. Descriptive analyses were generated by grade, gender, and tribe. RESULTS: Students' favorite foods were pizza, hamburgers, and tacos. Only 35.7% of students reported consuming the U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommendation of two or more daily servings of fruit, with only 19.3% reporting more than once-a-day intake of vegetables. The mean score (percent correct responses) to questions identifying common food sources of dietary fat and fiber, and other cancer-related nutrition knowledge questions, was 45.2% and 57.9% for fifth- and seventh-grade students, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These and related data support the need for nutrition education interventions in this population that target essential cancer prevention skills and motivational information required to make positive dietary choices.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Food preferences, body weight, and platelet-poor plasma serotonin and catecholamines.

The possible relationship between body weight, food preferences, and plasma neurotransmitters was investigated in 96 healthy volunteers. The volunteers were divided into groups according to sex, body mass index, and food preferences. In all groups fasting platelet-poor plasma (PPP) norepinephrine and serotonin (5-HT) were examined. PPP-5-HT was low in obese individuals (mean +/- SD: 51.7 +/- 34.6 nmol/L) in comparison with lean individuals (94.31 +/- 85.2 nmol/L; P < 0.01), in lean male carbohydrate cravers (22.7 +/- 16.4 nmol/L) in comparison with protein cravers (132.9 +/- 80.6 nmol/L; P < 0.005) and noncravers (64.7 +/- 51.7 nmol/L; P < 0.05), and in obese male carbohydrate cravers (34 +/- 22.7 nmol/L) in comparison with obese male protein cravers (98.8 +/- 28.4 nmol/L; P < 0.001). In conclusion, PPP-5-HT might be seen as a peripheral indicator of processes linked with food consumption and food preferences.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Taste perception in cirrhosis: its relationship to circulating micronutrients and food preferences.

Impairment of gustatory acuity may influence nutrient intake and hence nutritional status. The aim of this study was to evaluate gustatory acuity in patients with cirrhosis and its relationship to circulating concentrations of micronutrients, and food preferences. Gustatory evaluation was undertaken, using a rinsing technique, in 75 cirrhotic patients and 75 comparable healthy volunteers. Circulating concentrations of magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, and alpha- and beta-carotene were measured, and food preferences were assessed by questionnaire. The cirrhotic patients showed impaired gustatory function with significantly higher (less sensitive) median thresholds for detection of salt, sweet, and sour and for recognition of bitter, salt, sweet, and sour, together with a higher overall median gustatory score (P < .0001). Mean circulating concentrations of magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, and alpha- and beta-carotene were significantly lower in the patient population. Serum magnesium was significantly negatively associated with detection of salt (P = .02) and gustatory score (P = .02). Patients' subjective assessment of taste acuity did not correspond with objective measurements. Overall, no differences were observed in food preferences between the two groups, nor was any association found between food preferences and gustatory acuity. Patients with cirrhosis have impaired gustatory acuity that is associated with hypomagnesemia but apparently does not affect food selection.

Adult↗

PubMed1980

Effects of chlordiazepoxide and diazepam on feeding performance in a food-preference test.

Chlordiazepoxide (5 and 10 mg/kg) and diazepam (2.5 mg/kg) reduced the latency to eat and enhanced feeding response to familiar food in a food-preference test. The increased feeding response resulted from an increased frequency of individual eating episodes (bouts) without significant change in the episode duration. Experiment II indicated that this facilitatory action of the two drugs was not dependent on the presence of principal novelty cues in the food-preference test. Diazepam (5 mg/kg), in contrast, enhanced the feeding responses to novel food in the food preference test. Experiment III demonstrated that although diazepam can counteract induced food neophobia, its facilitory action on the response to novel foods may be mediated by a mechanism which can operate independently of food neophobia.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Multivariate analysis of dietary habits in 931 elderly Japanese males: smoking, food frequency and food preference.

To define the influence of smoking on dietary patterns and food preference in elderly Japanese, a mail survey was conducted on about 3000 subjects aged 65 years and older. A multivariate analysis of dietary frequency data regarding 15 food items on 931 male respondents suggested that frequency of intake of plant food, including vegetables and fruits, was lower in smokers than in nonsmokers. Another multivariate analysis of food preference data regarding 18 food items on the same subjects suggested that smoking decreased the desire for plant food.

Aged↗