Biomaterial Database

Discrimination of taste and preference for sweet in premature babies. 1985

E Tatzer, and M T Schubert, and W Timischl, and G Simbruner

A modified method for registering non-nutritive sucking behaviour with and without taste stimulation enabled us to study taste perception of premature babies. We wanted to study how babies who had no extrauterine taste experience reacted to one or more stimuli with water and 33% glucose. Eight randomly selected healthy newborns (three of them being SGA without further symptoms), exclusively fed by gastric tube, were studied. The mean gestational age at the time of the study was 35.5 weeks. They were studied five times with water and five times with glucose just before feeding. In seven babies the sucking response to glucose was greater than that to water from the first trial onwards. Sucking response increased with repeated glucose stimulation, but remained the same with water stimulation. The eighth baby behaved completely differently. We concluded from our results that premature babies with a postconceptional age of 35 weeks can discriminate between sweet and not-sweet. The greater sucking response to glucose than to water at the first trial implies a genetic factor in the preference for sweet in humans.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007231	Infant, Newborn	An infant during the first 28 days after birth.	Neonate,Newborns,Infants, Newborn,Neonates,Newborn,Newborn Infant,Newborn Infants
D007234	Infant, Premature	A human infant born before 37 weeks of GESTATION.	Neonatal Prematurity,Premature Infants,Preterm Infants,Infant, Preterm,Infants, Premature,Infants, Preterm,Premature Infant,Prematurity, Neonatal,Preterm Infant
D004192	Discrimination, Psychological	Differential response to different stimuli.	Discrimination, Psychology,Psychological Discrimination
D005518	Food Preferences	The selection of one food over another.	Food Selection,Food Preference,Food Selections,Preference, Food,Preferences, Food,Selection, Food,Selections, Food
D005947	Glucose	A primary source of energy for living organisms. It is naturally occurring and is found in fruits and other parts of plants in its free state. It is used therapeutically in fluid and nutrient replacement.	Dextrose,Anhydrous Dextrose,D-Glucose,Glucose Monohydrate,Glucose, (DL)-Isomer,Glucose, (alpha-D)-Isomer,Glucose, (beta-D)-Isomer,D Glucose,Dextrose, Anhydrous,Monohydrate, Glucose
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D013549	Sweetening Agents	Substances that sweeten food, beverages, medications, etc., such as sugar, saccharine or other low-calorie synthetic products. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)	Artificial Sweeteners,Sugar Substitutes,Sweeteners,Agent, Sweetening,Agents, Sweetening,Artificial Sweetener,Substitute, Sugar,Substitutes, Sugar,Sugar Substitute,Sweetener,Sweetener, Artificial,Sweeteners, Artificial,Sweetening Agent
D013649	Taste	The ability to detect chemicals through gustatory receptors in the mouth, including those on the TONGUE; the PALATE; the PHARYNX; and the EPIGLOTTIS.	Gustation,Taste Sense,Gustations,Sense, Taste,Senses, Taste,Taste Senses,Tastes