WEEK 6- DIETARY LEARNING AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EATING BEHAVIOURS Flashcards
what type of foods do children prefer?
sweet foods
what is a major factor in children liking foods?
learned acceptance
what is an example of something we consume that is driven by learned acceptance?
think we like the taste of beer but it is just because we associate it with being drunk - same with coffee
what do we innately have a rejection for?
sour and bitter tastes
what do we innately have acceptance for?
sweet and salty foods
when do experience with flavours begin?
before birth
what are the four stages of flavour experience in children?
prenatal exposure to maternal diet, milk feeding, introduction of complementary foods or weaning, self-feeding child
which stage is unique to humans?
complementary feeding/ weaning
at what age is the weaning period?
4 months
how are flavours transferred to the child during pregnancy?
via the amniotic fluid- can be exposed to many components of the maternal diet
what is an example that babies have prenatal experience of flavours
a study was done by Manella et al where pregnant mothers ingested anise or didn’t ingest anise- babies of mothers who had did were more accepting to eating it by sticking tongue out and licking
what is a downfall of the flavour study?
needs to be replicated
breast milk is perfectly matched to what?
to infant’s nutritional needs
what did a meta- analysis about breastfeeding show?- victora et al
breastfeeding protects against child infections and likely reduces overweight and diabetes
what did the meta- analysis show about the benefits of breast feeding for mothers?
protects against breast cancer and might also protect against overian cancer and type 2 diabetes
what does breast feeding transfer?
antibodies from mother to child
if you are breastfeeding when should you start introducing other foods?
6 months
did breastfed or bottle fed infants grow faster?
breastfed- but bottle fed catch up by the first year
at one year breastfed babies are what? and what might this prevent?
leaner- may help prevent obesity in later life
breastfeeding may promote what? - heinig et al
nutritional wisdom or self regulation of energy intake
what does a greater experience of a range of flavours from maternal diet increase?
increases acceptance of new foods at weaning, breastfed infants are less picky and eat more fruit and vegetables in later childhood relative to formula- fed infants
why does breastfeeding increase acceptance?
different flavours passed through the mothers milk
what is weaning before 4 months linked to?
Obesity
what does weaning at 6 months coincide with?
developmental milestones- teeth begin to appear, infant starts to handle food
most foods are accepted when?
early stages of weaning
what is later introduction of solid textured foods associated with?- Coulthard et al 2009
lower fruit and vegetable consumption and greater feeding difficulties at 7 years of age
what is food neophobia?
fear and avoidance of new foods
when does food neophobia usually occur?
2 years
why does food neophobia occur?
may be a protective mechanism against the possiblility of swallowing dangerous substances
what did a study by Cohen et al in 2006 find?
neophobic 4-5 year olds ate less fruit, vegetables and protein foods eg chicken and cheese and total calories than non- neophobic children. however there was no difference in consumption of bread or snack foods
what was found about the importance of exposure
8-15 exposures required in 3-4 year olds- Sullivan and Birch 1990
what theory does this importance of exposure relate to?
mere exposure effect- zajonc 1968
what is learned safety?
repeated ingestion of an unfamiliar food without negative gastro-intestinal consequences leads to increased acceptance of that food- ‘children like what they know and eat what they lie’- Cook 2007
what did Birch and Fisher 1998 say about children and learned associations with food?
young children readily learn associations between a food’s flavour and the post- ingestive consequences of eating it. if eating a food is followed by good feelings (eg satiety) a learned preference may occur (flavour- nutrient learning)- example of classical conditioning
what is the preload paradigm?- Birch and Deysher 1985
one group of children given a high energy preload (chocolate) pudding one group given a low energy preload pudding (vanilla) they both then had ad libitum access to buffet. they then did an extinction test trial and gave them the same flavours which were isocaloric- those with chocolate flavour ate less
are younger children or older children more sensitive to the energy content of foods than older children (cecil et al 2005)
younger children
what are the four broad aspects of parental feeding style:
- restriction- usually of access to unhealthy foods but sometimes just more overall foods particularly energy dense snacks 2. pressuring- usually to eat more healthy foods but sometimes just more food overall, particularly at mealtimes 3. instrumental feeding- use of food treats as rewards 4. emotional feeding- offering foods to manage childrne’s negative mood states
What did fisher and birch find about restricting access to palatable foods
restricting access to palatable foods affects childrens behavioural repsonses, food selection and intake- they found that restricting childrens access increased children spontaneous behavioural responses to the restricted food (apple and peach fruit bar cookies) also relative to similar periods when it was freely available. but the effects of restriction did not generalise to other eating contexts
what did carper et al find about the emergence of dietary restraint and disinhibition in young girls with parental control in feeding
one third of 5 year old girls reported moderate levels of dietary restraint, 25% showed evidence of emotional disinhibition and nearly 75% reported externally disinhibited eating in the prescence of palatable foods. girls dietary restraint and emotional disinhibition were related to their perception of parental pressure to eat more, external disinhibition was related to their perceptions of having restrictions placed on their eating
what question has been asked about the direction of causality with child adiposity?
does greater parental control of child feeding increase child adiposity? or does child adiposity ‘induce’ controlling practices
what did webber et al 2010 find about the direction of causality with child adiposity?
the results showed that higher child BMI at baseline predicted increased use of monitoring and lower use of pressure to eat over a 3- year period. in contrast, none of the maternal feeding practices at baseline were associated with change in adiposity at follow- up.
what methods do we need to use to assess cross- sectional associations?
longitudinal methods
what was found about children and the impact of genes on weight
impact of genes on weight is significantly greater for children brought up in high risk obesogenic environments compared to children from less obesogenic environments- suggests that genetic susceptability to obesity will be most highly expressed in early home environments that are more obesogenic
what is a risk of excess adiposity at age 9 years
higher dietary energy density at age 7 years but not 5 years- perhaps reflecting the ability to compensate for extra calories in an energy dense diet.
what does the higher dietary energy density at 7 years suggest about interventions for obesity?
they should begin at an early age to prevent the formation of preferences for energy dense foods
what is suggested is a good way to change children’s diets
- health education campaigns- inform people about what they should and shouldn’t eat 2. need interventions that really work- make contact with children’s psychology- that are evidence based/ evaluated- that actually change behaviour
what is more frequent intake of fruit and vegetables in children associated with?- rassmussen et al 2006
younger children, gender (girls), socio-economic status, preferences, parental intake, home availability
what were the ten most highly rated food preferences in children- cooke and wardle 2005?
chocolate, pizza, icecream, pasta, strawberries, chocolate biscuits, ice lollies, grapes, cakes and fruti sweets
what were the ten lowest rates food by children? cooke and wardle 2006
spinach leeks marrow swede sprouts turnips textured vegetable protein, soya meat, liver- sausage and liver
what were the results of the flavour- nutrient learning study?- gertrude et al
failed because children wouldn’t taste the foods in the first place
what was the exposure led intervention tested by wardle et al
156 parents of 2-6 year old children were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1. exposure (parents offered child a taste of target vegetable daily for 14 days) 2. information (given a leaflet with advice and suggestions for increasing children’s fruit and vegetable consumption 3. control pre and post intervention taste tests to measure liking and intake of target vegetable
what was the finding of the exposure led intervention by wardle et al 2003?
greater increases in liking and intake of the target vegetable in the exposure group compared to the other groups
what are other types of exposure interventions that have been tested?
toddlers were repeatedly exposed to fruit and vegetable ‘picture books’- increased visual preference for the foods- Houston-Price, Burton et al 2009
what is meant by the social context of eating?
children imitate the food choices and eating practices of people in their social environment ie parents, teachers, peers, popular cultural figures- parental intake of fruit and vegetables is one of the strongest determinants of vegetable consumption in children
what food did popeye increase the consumption of in the 1920’s?
spinach- sales of spinach increased by a third and it became one of the most popular foods among American youngsters
what is the social matching of food intake and why does this occur?
people tend to model or match the amount eaten by others- Salvy et al 2007 - depends on age, gender and familiarity. social approval and need for affiliation - robinson et al 2011
what is the ‘blue foods’ study?
impact of peer behaviour on novel food consumption in 5-7 year old children - greenhalgh et al 2009- exposure to ‘positive’ peers who avidly consumed target food= 71% consumption. exposure to negative peers who rejected target food- 2% consumption. all foods coloured blue and given made up names- needed novelty to control the experiment
is the use of rewards to increase consumption of healthy foods harmful or helpful?
consensus among researchers that desirable food items should not be used as rewards for consumption of other foods. it causes over-justification ‘if she has to give me something to eat this stuff i must not like it’- big area of controversy
what study shows the harmful effect of rewards to increase consumption?
preschool children were assigned to either an instrumental eating or control condition in the instrumental condition children consumed an initially novel beverage to obtain a reward. key finding: children in the instrumental condition showed a decrease in preference for the target beverage relative to children in the control condition- neutral beverages were selcted neither liked or disliked - birch et al 1984
whats the most recent evidence of rewards for food consumption?
most recent evidence suggests that use of non-food rewards can be an effective way to increase consumption of vegetables. the problem is not the rewards per se but the way they are used. most effective if: desirabe, contigent on the individuals behaviour, signal the child that they are for behaviour that is both high status and enjoyable and avoid coercive and negative associations eg the food dudes programme
what are the three key components of the food dudes healthy eating programme?
- role modelling- children watch exciting movie adventures featuring the food dudes 2. repeated testing- they are encouraged to taste fruit and vegetables 3. rewards- if they taste and eat their fruit and vegetables they earn food dudes rewards - found significant results and significant increases in home fruit and vegetable intake as reported by parents
why does the food dudes programme work?
developing liking for taste of fruit and vegetables, changes culture within school, generalisation to family home, alters self-concept ‘fruit and vegetable’ eaters.
