Do Our Tastes Change Over Time?

Why Do Our Tastes Change?

Have you ever wondered if our tastes change as we grow older? Many of us will have memories of hating sprouts throughout our childhood Christmases, or remember feeding our peas and carrots to the family dog under the dinner table as a kid. So how do we go from loathing our vegetables in our younger years to craving big, healthy salads and looking forward to crisp, stir-fried veggies in our later years?

You might be surprised to learn that it’s not just a case of kids being fussy. While we are born with the same number of taste buds that we die with, our taste buds regenerate often and are far more sensitive during their early years to protect us and help us survive.

How Taste Buds Work

Taste is the profile that the receptors in your taste buds pick up when food is in the mouth. The most common taste profiles that the taste receptors can differentiate between are sweet, salty, bitter and sour. It is also interesting to note that we don’t just have taste buds on our tongue. Taste buds can be found in a number of places in the body including your throat, stomach and the roof of your mouth. That’s a lot of information to be sent to your brain about how something tastes!

Now flavour, which is a different message sent to the brain, is not just based on taste. Flavour is the combination of both the taste of the food and the smell of the food too. Ever had a child look at your lovingly home-cooked meal, smell it, pull a face and declare, “I don’t like it!” even before they’ve put the food in their mouth? I’ve been there, my friend!

A huge range of signals are being sent to our brains when we’re younger and don’t yet have the information or the memories of what food we like and don’t like. They help us decide if we will like this particular food based on its appearance, scent and taste. As annoying as it can be to have your little one refuse to eat something, their reaction is actually programmed into their brain for survival.

Evolution and Survival

“The purpose of our ability to distinguish tastes is survival,” says Trey Wilson, DDS, a New York City based dentist. “Taste buds tell your brain whether or not to swallow what’s already in your mouth.”

A researcher at University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Dr. Bartoshuk, explains: “The taste system evolved to protect a baby who hasn’t learned anything about what is good and bad for himself yet.”

Therefore, we are programmed from birth to avoid bitter foods which are perceived by our brains as potentially poisonous; better luck next time, broccoli!

On the opposite side, our penchant for sweet things stems from the need to seek out high energy foods which will help us to grow and flourish. Robin Dando, researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Food Sciences at Cornell University has explained, “It would stand as a tremendous evolutionary advantage for children to be able to quickly identify sources of calories.”

Nowadays much of our high energy foods take the form of processed foods with refined sugars and carbohydrates. Our bodies are designed to seek out natural sugars to fuel the body with calories, such as fruit and vegetables.

Taste and Children

Research has shown that children have enhanced sensitivity when it comes to smell, taste, colour and texture. As mentioned, this is particularly helpful in allowing vulnerable infants to determine if something is safe for them to eat. They become less sensitive as we age, which is why our tastes change.

In addition, 15-25% of the population are considered to be ‘supertasters’, which means that they have a higher than average amount of taste buds and are able to taste things much more strongly. Dr. Bartoshuk has stated, “Research has shown that supertasters don’t like vegetables very much because they taste bitterness so intensely.” So, maybe your children aren’t being fussy on purpose…they could just be supertasters! It does also work on the other end of the scale, where those with a higher than average amount of taste buds may find sweet food to be too sweet for their liking.

 Advice for Picky Eaters

Did you know that taste buds regenerate every 10-14 days? They have their own life cycle where they re-grow, develop into taste cells and then die again. If you’re struggling to get your child to try something that they have previously disliked, why not try telling your little one that they get new taste buds every 2 weeks and their tastes may have changed?

We also learn to like and try new things by watching those around us. If you set a good example by eating your fruit and vegetables, children are more likely to imitate you. You can also try explaining to children why we should eat fruit and vegetables! Our debut book Cece the Strawberry explains some of the super-hero like benefits that strawberries give our bodies.

There are also things that you can do to make boring vegetables more palatable for sensitive little mouths, like roasting vegetables rather than boiling them to bring out their natural sugars. You can also sweeten vegetables by roasting them with a drizzle of honey and olive oil; it is important to note that honey is not recommended for children under the age of 1.

Further Reading:

To read some more detailed articles about our sense of taste, I recommend reading the following articles:

https://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/wellness/a5789/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-your-taste-buds-119709/

https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article/sense-of-taste-changes-aging