Sensory preferences for fat and sugar in adolescence and adult life.

It is widely accepted that children love sweets.' The consumption of sugars is higher in childhood and adolescence than in adult life, and sugars contribute over one-quarter of all calories to the preadolescent diet.2.3 Sensory preferences for sweet taste are higher among children than among adults. Children and adolescents optimally prefer higher sucrose concentrations than do adults and often fail to show the standard sucrose breakp~int.~ Sweet taste preferences and sugar intakes, however, decline between childhood and adult life. Is there a link between sensory preferences and the patterns of food consumption? There is much evidence that preferences for sweet taste are innate. Sucrose solutions are perceived as being pleasant from birth. Hedonic preferences for sweet taste, however, can be subject to modification early in life, and sensory preferences for sweet foods are often determined both by early exposure and the context in which sweetness is presented to the ~hi1d.I.~ Studies of preschool childred have shown that food preferences in early life are determined by two chief factors: familiarity and sweetness. In one study, 17 preschool children (3.7-4.7 years of age) were given a range of small, open-faced sandwiches on whole-wheat bread. The spreads used were margarine, margarine and mint jelly, peanut butter, peanut butter and grape jelly, cream cheese, cream cheese and honey, cream cheese and caviar, and cheddar cheese. The rank order of preference ratings showed good correlation with actual consumption of the sandwiches. The children best liked those foods that were both sweet and familiar to them. It is worth noting that the familiar, sweet foods were generally mixtures of sugar and fat. The most familiar and preferred foods in early childhood tend to combine these two principal ingredients: sugar and fat. Fat and sugar are the chief components of peanut butter and jelly, chocolate candy, cookies, and ice cream. Data in TABLE 1 show the nutrient composition of different types of chocolate candy: it can be seen that sugar and fat account for up to 98% of total calories. The nutrient