Dl. Kern et al., THE POSTINGESTIVE CONSEQUENCES OF FAT CONDITION PREFERENCES FOR FLAVORS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH DIETARY-FAT, Physiology & behavior, 54(1), 1993, pp. 71-76
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.