Investigating Flavours and New Tastes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating Flavours and New Tastes
IRAS ID
235881
Contact name
Jacqueline M Wallace
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Infants have an inborn preference for sweet and umami flavours and dislike sour and bitter, but there is evidence that sensory experiences beginning early in development can modify these preferences in favour ultimately of healthier food choices. Babies are first exposed to flavour in utero and then later through breast/formula milk. This can be manipulated to influence liking and consumption of individual foods with specific high-intensity flavours postnatally. There are no prospective studies evaluating the impact of increasing maternal fruit and vegetable intake during late pregnancy on a child’s subsequent acceptance of fruit and vegetables, particularly those with a sour/bitter taste. The hypothesis is that an intervention to increase maternal intake of fruit and vegetables in late pregnancy will enhance fetal flavour exposure and make infants more likely to accept a wide variety of fruit and vegetables in childhood. Before testing this, an effective method to assess the acceptance of sweet/bitter flavours in weaning infants must be developed. Accordingly this application is a pilot study involving 6 maternal –infant dyads which aims to establish the optimum test conditions for conducting infant taste tests at the weaning transition including timing, location, test food matrix, video recording and storing of data and any other challenges as yet unidentified. Mothers will conduct the taste tests in a familiar home setting and measure the amount of test food eaten, the rate of feeding, and score their babies enjoyment of the tests foods. They will video record the taste sessions and upload the data to enable the researchers to check they are conducting the tests correctly and to independently analyse the infant’s facial expressions during the taste test.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EM/0421
Date of REC Opinion
9 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion