Mom's Food Tastes
Shape Child's Preferences

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mothers who bemoan their child's preference for toffee over tofu might want to examine their own diet, researchers suggest.

According to their study, mothers influence the food preferences of their children as early as 2 years of age through their own food preferences. Foods that were disliked by mothers were not likely to be offered to children, including nutrient-rich, low-fat foods such as legumes, according to the report in the November issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

"Mothers should recognize their own important roles in shaping children's food preferences," conclude Dr. Jean D. Skinner from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and colleagues.

They recommend that caretakers make a variety of foods available to children, including those that are not liked by adults in the house, and continuing to offer kids foods that are not accepted the first time.

The study included 70 mothers who answered questions about their child's food likes and dislikes at age 2-3 years, 4 years and 8 years. They were also interviewed about their own food preferences for the study, and older children responded to questions about the foods they liked and disliked.

Moms and their 8-year-olds disliked the same types and number of foods listed on the 196-item food questionnaire, the study found. However, the mothers had tasted almost all of the foods while many children had never tried some of them.

Tastes changed little over the years, and food preferences were mostly set by age 2-3 years. For instance, children liked more than 60% of the foods listed in the questionnaire when they were toddlers. By the time the children were 8, their tastes included just an additional 4% of the foods.

Children tended to prefer breads, desserts, snack foods and meats available in fast-food restaurants. They tended to dislike vegetables, especially raw onions, mushrooms, summer squash and tomatoes.

And while the percentage of vegetables that had never been tasted decreased by 10% between age 2-3 years and age 8, the percentage of vegetables that were liked rose by just 2%.

In other findings, the number of foods liked at age 4 years was the strongest predictor of the number of foods liked by age 8. Kids were more likely to accept foods when they were introduced early on, before age 8.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2002;102:1638-1647.

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