{"id":18436,"date":"2011-08-08T11:55:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T16:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=18436"},"modified":"2011-07-29T09:41:37","modified_gmt":"2011-07-29T14:41:37","slug":"retraining-our-taste-buds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/","title":{"rendered":"Re(s)training our taste buds?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

From Brian Mossop at Scientific American<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Our diets are unhealthy, that much is clear. Now, an increasing number of scientists and physicians wonder if our propensity for unhealthy,\u00a0obesity<\/a>-inducing eating might be tied to the food choices made during our first weeks and months of life. Indeed, the latest research indicates that what we learn to like as infants paves the way for what we eat as adults. If true, we might be able to tackle the obesity epidemic in a new and more promising way, one that starts with the very first spoonful.<\/p>\n

Today, unfortunately, most of those early lovin\u2019 spoonfuls contain more sugar and salt than is nutritionally wise.\u00a0A recent study in the\u00a0Journal of Public Health<\/em><\/a> found that 53 percent of processed baby and toddler foods lining supermarket shelves (at least in Canada) have an excessive number of calories from simple sugars, and 12 percent of them have too much sodium. The authors, noting how overindulgence on both of these nutrients is tied to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, suggest that early exposure to overly sweet or salty meals could promote a taste for these unhealthy ingredients in the future\u2026.Hydrolyzed casein is somewhat bitter, a little sour and oddly savory. But it is the aftertaste that does people in. (Beauchamp says that many adults throw up the first time they try it.) The team discovered that if babies had consumed hydrolyzed casein early in life, their perceptions of flavor changed. Early exposure to the predigested formula caused babies to eat more savory, bitter, sour or plain cereal than infants who were brought up on breast milk or regular milk-based formula. Not only did the babies familiarized with hydrolyzed casein formula consume more off-tasting foods, but they also seemed to thoroughly enjoy their meal, making fewer disapproving facial expressions than the standard formula or the milk drinkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you feed a baby this formula before he or she is four months of age,\u201d Beauchamp says, \u201cmost accept it readily. They seem to like it. [But] if you begin the feeding at five to six months of age, by that time, something has happened.\u201d By that age, the window of influence has closed, and eating the hydrolyzed casein formula is not enjoyable at all. \u201cThey hate it just like you or I [would],\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

As occurs with other senses, it seems that Beauchamp has uncovered\u00a0a sensitive period in early development for flavor preferences<\/a>. Feed an infant a food in the first few months, and they might just become a fan for life; miss that window, and the liking for foods with pungent flavors\u2014no matter how good for you\u2014might be much more of a fight. \u2026<\/p>\n

Despite the unresolved issues they point out, both Swanson and Drewnowski agree that new, innovative approaches to battling obesity are needed. \u201cClearly, whatever we are doing now isn\u2019t working,\u201d Swanson adds. And what makes Beauchamp\u2019s theory so appealing is that it lays out a different plan of attack for metabolic and cardiovascular disorders: Instead of telling people what they shouldn\u2019t consume, it may work just as well if researchers and physicians can instead find ways to train\u00a0the senses<\/a> to prefer healthful foods in the first place.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Brian Mossop at Scientific American: Our diets are unhealthy, that much is clear. Now, an increasing number of scientists and physicians wonder if our propensity for unhealthy,\u00a0obesity-inducing eating might be tied to the food choices made during our first weeks and months of life. Indeed, the latest research indicates that what we learn to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRe(s)training our taste buds?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From Brian Mossop at Scientific American: Our diets are unhealthy, that much is clear. Now, an increasing number of scientists and physicians wonder if\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Re(s)training our taste buds?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From Brian Mossop at Scientific American: Our diets are unhealthy, that much is clear. Now, an increasing number of scientists and physicians wonder if\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-08T16:55:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-29T14:41:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/\",\"name\":\"Re(s)training our taste buds?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-08T16:55:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-29T14:41:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"From Brian Mossop at Scientific American: Our diets are unhealthy, that much is clear. Now, an increasing number of scientists and physicians wonder if\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Re(s)training our taste buds?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Re(s)training our taste buds?","description":"From Brian Mossop at Scientific American: Our diets are unhealthy, that much is clear. Now, an increasing number of scientists and physicians wonder if","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Re(s)training our taste buds?","og_description":"From Brian Mossop at Scientific American: Our diets are unhealthy, that much is clear. Now, an increasing number of scientists and physicians wonder if","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-08-08T16:55:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-29T14:41:37+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/","name":"Re(s)training our taste buds?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-08T16:55:24+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-29T14:41:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"From Brian Mossop at Scientific American: Our diets are unhealthy, that much is clear. Now, an increasing number of scientists and physicians wonder if","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/08\/08\/retraining-our-taste-buds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Re(s)training our taste buds?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}