Taste Adjustments to a child's diet

[Guest guest]

this was part of a discussion on the dysphagia (swallowing disorders) list I

belong to on adding sweetener to foods too early.

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to a large extent re: the sweetness factor and actually have added

stavia to food to give it a bit more sweetness without adding chemicals,

etc.

One of the other people who makes the same points about sweetness is

Mennella who has done extensive research on the development of taste through

the

Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. There are clear

progressions

in the development of taste sensitivity and preferences. For example,

salty

tastes develop later and the addition of salt to bitter foods (or

medications) makes them more acceptable to older infants and toddlers.

Mennella's

research also shows that the child's experience interacts with any genetic

programming for taste. For example, children who were given sweetened

cereals,

preferred greater sweetness in juice.

I think that with kids we have to be very careful about adding lots of

additional sweetness to their food. Yes, they prefer it, but it is too

easy to get

them hooked on only eating food that is very sweet. This can become a real

trap when parents get very worried that the child isn't eating enough. So

sugar or another sweetener gets added to get the child to eat more. Then

the

parent finds that the child will not eat anything that isn't strongly

sweetened. If the child is part of a family that has a lot of " junk food "

around, it

becomes a direct path to a very non-nutritious overly sugared diet. For

older children and adults dietary diversity is essential to getting the

nutrients we need in food. Unfortunately all of the nutrients we need are

not

present in sweet foods. We need to think constantly with children about

how to

work within developmental propensities while introducing a wide variety of

tastes

in order to get a broader acceptance of the diverse foods that the child

will

need to grow and be healthy.

Once again, I think there must be a balance in which we think of long term

directions as well as the short-term goal of getting the child interested in

eating more. I think that that is a huge difference when looking at

taste

adjustments in the elderly and in the young child. For someone nearing

the end

of life needs good nutrition but can get by with having sweet tastes added

to

everything in the diet. With children we are building lifelong eating

patterns.