THE POSTINGESTIVE CONSEQUENCES OF FAT CONDITION PREFERENCES FOR FLAVORS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH DIETARY-FAT

To investigate whether children acquire conditioned preferences for fl avors associated with high dietary fat content, 27 3- and 4-year-old c hildren participated in a series of 12 conditioning or mere exposure s essions. Following an overnight fast, children who participated in con ditioning trials consumed fixed quantities of a flavored yogurt drink that on half the days was high in fat and energy (954 kJ, 18 g fat/150 g serving) or contained no fat (277 kJ, 0 g fat/150 g serving). Child ren in the conditioning group consumed 150 g servings, children in the mere exposure group tasted 16 g or less of these same stimuli. Prefer ences were assessed before and after conditioning when the children we re hungry and also postconditioning when the children were satiated. R esults provided evidence for conditioned preferences based on the post ingestive consequences of dietary fat. Children in the conditioning gr oup learned to prefer the high-density paired flavor over the low-dens ity paired flavor, and increased their preference for the high-density paired flavor from pre- to postconditioning. Children in the mere exp osure group showed positive shifts in preference for both the fat-free and the high-fat paired flavors. In the conditioning group, preferenc es for the high-fat flavor was depressed by satiety, whereas the prefe rence of the mere exposure group did not vary with hunger state. Condi tioned flavor preferences, based on the postingestive consequences of fat intake, may contribute to children's preferences for foods high in dietary fat.