Semantic Knowledge Influences Prewired Hedonic Responses to Odors

Background Odor hedonic perception relies on decoding the physicochemical properties of odorant molecules and can be influenced in humans by semantic knowledge. The effect of semantic knowledge on such prewired hedonic processing over the life span has remained unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings The present study measured hedonic response to odors in different age groups (children, teenagers, young adults, and seniors) and found that children and seniors, two age groups characterized by either low level of (children) or weak access to (seniors) odor semantic knowledge, processed odor hedonics more on the basis of their physicochemical properties. In contrast, in teenagers and young adults, who show better levels of semantic odor representation, the role of physicochemical properties was less marked. Conclusions/Significance These findings demonstrate for the first time that the biological determinants that make an odor pleasant or unpleasant are more powerful at either end of the life span

Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of a Brazilian Version of the Child Feeding Questionnaire

Abstract: The Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) assesses parental attitudes, beliefs and practices about child feeding and obesity proneness. This research aimed to translate and to test the reliability of the CFQ and to evaluate this instrument in Brazilian families. The participants were 300 mothers and 300 children, aging from 2 to 11 years old, of both sexes. The translation, synthesis, back-translation, evaluation by an expert committee and pre-test were performed. Besides the application of questionnaire to mothers, data regarding anthropometric measurements in mothers and children was collected. The indexes of content validity index, test-retest reliability and internal consistencies were good. The parental factors Perceived parent weight, Perceived child weight, Concern about child weight, Restriction, Pressure to eat and Monitoring on child feeding were associated with overweight in childhood. In conclusion, these results highlight the validity and utility of the Brazilian version of the CFQ

Developing healthy food preferences in preschool children through taste exposure, sensory learning and nutrition education

Purpose of Review: The present review was undertaken in order to summarize and evaluate recent research investigating taste exposure, sensory learning, and nutrition education interventions for promoting vegetable intake in preschool children. Recent Findings: Overall, taste exposure interventions yielded the best outcomes for increasing vegetable intake in early childhood. Evidence from sensory learning strategies such as visual exposure and experiential learning also show some success. While nutrition education remains the most common approach used in preschool settings, additional elements are needed to strengthen the educational program for increasing vegetable intake. There is a substantial gap in the evidence base to promote vegetable intake in food fussy children. Summary: The present review reveals the relative importance of different intervention strategies for promoting vegetable intake. To strengthen intervention effects for improving vegetable intake in preschool children, future research could consider integrating taste exposure and sensory learning strategies with nutrition education within the preschool curriculum

Does a pleasure-based intervention at home improve the nutritional quality of mid-afternoon snacks in the mother-child dyads?

International audienceThe French mid-afternoon snack is characterized by consumption of energy-dense foods. Nutrition labelling can constitute a lever to improve choices but at the expense of liking (Poquet et al., 2017). Thus, it seems important to develop strategies to increase the pleasure of consuming healthy foods. Our aim is to compare the nutritional quality of snacks chosen within mother-child dyads before and after a pleasure-based intervention. At baseline (T1) and eight weeks later (T2), mothers and children (n=189 7-11 years) were invited in the laboratory to choose separately a snack composed of two food items (among ten) for a mid-afternoon snack for themselves and for the other dyad's member. Then, they rated their liking for all items. One of the two snacks chosen by oneself and by the other dyad's member was randomly selected to be consumed. Participants were then randomized into an intervention (n=95) or a control (n=94) group. Between T1 and T2, all participants will receive three boxes at home. The intervention boxes targeted three dimensions of pleasure (sensory, symbolic and social) to stimulate pleasure of eating three categories of heathy foods: fruit, dairy and cereal products. The control boxes are focused on culinary arts. Results at T1 showed that mother's choices for themselves were healthier than children's choices for themselves (P<0.0001). Furthermore, results showed that the nutritional quality of children's choices for their mother was higher than for themselves (P<0.0001), whereas the nutritional quality of mother's choices for their child was lower than for themselves (P<0.0005). At T2 (next April), healthier snack choices are expected for both dyads' members in the intervention group compared to the control one, with no hedonic cost associated with the expected increase of the nutritional quality of choices