October 9, 2013

Dr. Alison K. Ventura, PhD, an assistant professor in the Nutrition Sciences Department at the College of Nursing and Health Professions, recently published an article about nutrition and child development. According to Ventura, “learning about flavors in foods begins in the womb and during early infancy. This early experience serves as the foundation for the continuing development of food preferences across the lifespan.” The study finds that each person’s unique preferences are “based on predisposed biological tendencies, but are cultivated and further modified through experiential learning.”  Going forward, Ventura aims to collect research from various fields of study to provide a comprehensive overview of the factors that contribute to the development of food preferences during neonatal, prenatal, infancy and early childhood stages.