Culture is in the amniotic fluid…?

At a pre-conference workshop of the 10th European Nutrition Conference in Paris I was one of the speakers on Acquisition of Food-Related Behaviours in Children. The first speaker of the day, Luc Marlier from Strasbourg, France, gave a very interesting and amusing talk on environmental influences on food choice very early in life. He presented his research that clearly indicates that children already obtain food preferences before birth, based on exposure to odours in the amniotic fluid. To which odours the child is exposed before birth is dependent on the eating habits and food choices of the mother. He claimed, therefore, that cultural environmental influences on food choice are already apparent in the womb. During the rest of the day the acquisition of food preferences in children was explored from a genetics perspective, from a social psychology perspective and from a public health perspective, and the important roles of parents, schools and marketing in influencing children’s food choices was highlighted. The different presentations will be made available via the Danone Institute website www.danoneinstitute.org.