Sensitive Periods in Human Flavor Learning

Monell Chemical Senses Center1 site in 1 country97 target enrollmentAugust 2012

Overview

Brief Summary

The goals of the proposed research are to specify the timing and consequences of the sensitive period for flavor learning in infants who are being breastfed or formula fed. The investigators will conduct a randomized within- and between-subject study of women and their infants during a 15-month window.

Detailed Description

This is a randomized clinical trial on both breastfeeding and formula feeding infants to determine the effects of the timing of flavor experiences on subsequent food acceptance in both members of the dyad.

Registry

clinicaltrials.gov

Start Date

August 2012

End Date

November 30, 2015

Last Updated

6 years ago

Study Type

Interventional

Study Design

Parallel

Sex

All

Investigators

Sponsor

Monell Chemical Senses Center

Responsible Party

Principal Investigator

Julie A. Mennella, PhD

Member and Director Emeritus

Monell Chemical Senses Center

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

•Healthy, term infants and their mothers
•Infants 2 wks (+/- 2 wk of age)
•Mothers and infants exclusively breastfeeding or exclusively feeding a cows-milk based formula
•Mothers must be older than 18 years of age

Exclusion Criteria

•Infants who were preterm or have medical conditions that interfere with feeding or eating
•Mothers who had gestational diabetes or are diagnosed with a major illness requiring treatment or surgery
•Mothers who will be going back to work full-time before the infant is 4 months old
•Mothers who are allergic to any vegetables
•Subjects will not be excluded because of economic status, gender, race or ethnicity.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Vegetable Flavor Acceptance [Infants' Intake]

Time Frame: 6- to 10-month-old weaned infants (3 separate test days )

Taste testing conducted on infants to determine acceptance of plain cereal, carrot-flavor cereal (exposed flavor for intervention groups) and broccoli-flavored cereal (novel flavor for all groups) after weaning, which occurred at \~ 8 months of age. Outcomes included intake (in grams).

Taste Liking Ratings of Vegetable Flavors [Mothers].

Time Frame: Monthly, 0.5 to 4.5 months

Psychophysical testing conducted on mothers to rate their taste of carrot, beet, celery, mixed vegetable (exposed flavors for intervention groups) and apple juices using the hedonic gLMS (hedonic general labelled magnitude scale). Ratings on the scale range from -100 (strongest imaginable dislike) to 0 (neutral) to 100 (strongest imaginable like).

Vegetable Flavor Acceptance (Infants' Rate of Feeding)

Time Frame: 6- to 10-month-old weaned infants (3 separate test days)

Taste testing conducted on infants to determine acceptance of plain cereal, carrot-flavor cereal (exposed flavor for intervention groups) and broccoli-flavored cereal (novel flavor for all groups) after weaning, which occurred at \~ 8 months of age. Outcomes included intake rate of feeding (grams per minute) .