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Expert Q&A

	By Bridget Swinney, M.S., R.D. General Nutrition Expert Prenatal Nutrition Expert

What kind of food do children prefer, and what is the biggest influence on their taste preference? Or is it from birth?

There are as many taste preferences as there are children! Seriously, I have seen kids who prefer broccoli over apples and beans over burgers! Then, there are the kids (who seem to be the majority) who would eat fruit instead of vegetables any day.

We are just now beginning to understand what forms taste preferences. Research shows that babies display a preference for foods that their moms ate while pregnant and/or nursing. Repeated exposure to a particular food also helps a child accept it. For example, if your son doesn?t like carrots on the first try, don?t give up because he is more likely to like it on the 10th try! Not surprisingly, mothers seem to have the most influence over kids? food preferences, probably because in most cases, they spend the most time with them and control the food supply for the family.

Also watch what you say and do around your children; comments about being fat, or watching what you eat do not fall on deaf ears. In a study of 5-year-old girls, girls whose mothers reported current or recent dieting were more than twice as likely to have ideas about dieting, suggesting that mothers' dieting behavior is a source of young girls' ideas, concepts and beliefs about dieting.

Bridget Swinney, M.S., R.D. Author of Eating Expectantly and Healthy Food for Healthy Kids

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