The Development of Taste Preferences

Have you ever thought that your liking of strawberries and your resentment of cauliflower could be the result of very careful genetic programming? 

Ice Ice Baby by Danny Coen via flickr

Besides our genetic inclination, gastronomic stimuli, starting as early as the 8^th gestational week, can shape the taste preferences that we develop later in life.

Such a Sweet Tooth…
Indeed, all humans seem to have encoded in their genome a preference or aversion for specific tastes that were related, from an evolutionary perspective, to increased chances of survival. An innate liking for sweets is evident in all newborns ensuring the acceptance of maternal milk. One mechanism behind this affection is the upregulation of the production of endogenous opioids. They change the perception of pain and mimic the effects of drugs in the brain. It is no coincidence then that sucrose-containing solutions are used as analgesics for painful procedures in neonates [1]. As we grow, other endogenous factors, like polymorphisms in the sweet taste receptors (TAS1R2, TAS1R3), come into play and influence our inclination towards sweets.
Likewise, the innate aversion towards bitter foods follows the fact that most toxic substances taste bitter [2].

A Restaurant in the Womb
Learning, in the form of repeated exposure to certain foods, is another individual factor influencing our taste preferences and in the end our eating habits. Our first exposure to food flavors takes place inside the womb. Flavor components pass from the mother’s blood to the amniotic fluid. Breast milk is the next, perhaps even more important, milestone. Changing its flavor according to the maternal diet provides a variety of flavor stimuli for the infant that prepares and familiarizes it for solid food [3]. However, it is never too late to influence our food preferences by regularly “training our palate”.
Influencing our food preferences appropriately from the first years of life can aid in the prevention of a plethora of diseases, from cancer to obesity and diabetes, which are closely related to our dietary habits.

[1] Ventura and Worobey, Curr Biol, 2013
[2] Ventura and Mennella, Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care, 2011
[3] Beauchamp and Mennella, J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr, 2009

by Andreas A. Diamantaras, MSc student
This article originally appeared September 2014 – Volume 07, Issue 03 in "Nature versus Nurture"