We investigated the effect of the eating behavior of infants on their taste sensitivity and development. The study was carried out on a total of 130 children between the ages of one and three years (74 males and 56 females in the age range from 18 months to 41 months) who were enrolled at three approved nursery schools in the prefecture of Okayama. The study involved observing the eating habits at mealtimes in households according to Enjoji's Developmental Questionnaire for Infants, and using flavored aqueous solutions for evaluating taste sensitivity. At least half the children lived in households in which they were provided with home-cooked food and were able to enjoy eating while taking with their family during the meal. The majority of the children in this study were sensitive to sweet, sour and salty tastes within a range of concentration of 0.2-0.8% for an aqueous sucrose solution,0.02-0.06% for an aqueous citric acid solution, and 0.04-0.16% for an aqueous sodium chloride solution. We did not observe any statistical correlation between the eating situation and taste sensitivity of the children, except in the case of sensitivity to a salty taste. However, there existed a significant correlation between the eating situation and the development of the children in four to five categories among the total of six categories. It was clear that a healthy eating situation in infancy did play a positive role in development (for example, in such areas as basic habits, language formation and language comprehension). The results indicate that eating patterns in the household during the early stages of infancy did not have a significant effect on taste sensitivity, except for a salty taste, but suggest that there may have been some effect on the children's development.
