A prospective study of food preferences in childhood

This study has evaluated the impact of food choices at 2-3 years old on food preferences later in life, by following up the same subjects. Early preferences were estimated through recordings of food choices conducted in a nursery canteen in children aged 2-3, from 1982 to 1999. The children were free to choose the composition of their lunch from among a varied offering of eight dishes. The same subjects (n = 341) were contacted in 2001-2002 and so their ages varied from 17-22 (n = 91), 13-16 (n = 68), 8-12 (n = 99) to 4-7 (n = 83). Their present preference for the 80 foods most frequently presented at the nursery canteen was assessed through a questionnaire. Five food categories were studied: vegetables, animal products, cheeses, starchy foods and combined foods. The ranking of preference for the different food categories changed especially after puberty. However, regressions performed by food category indicated that for most categories, individual present preference was highly linked to individual preference at 2-3 years old. The link was the stronger for cheeses, followed to a lesser extent by animal products and vegetables. Present preferences increased with age for vegetables and they decreased with age for animal products only in females (to a lesser extent, they decreased with age for starchy foods and cheeses). Analyses by specific foods confirmed the global analysis. Individual present preference was linked to individual early preference for all mature cheeses and for 50% of the foods for other categories: most of these items were strongly flavoured. This study showed that preferences were stable from 2- to 3-year-old until young adulthood and that some changes in preference occurred during adolescence.