Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Journal of Human Lactation
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mennella, J. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mennella, J. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Mother's Milk: A Medium for Early Flavor Experiences

Julie A. Mennella, PhD

Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308, USA.

For centuries, many believed that the lactating woman's diet could influence the composition and flavor of her milk and that substances in human milk could be transmitted from the wet nurse or mother and have long-lasting effects on the child. The research described herein focuses on mother's milk as a medium of early sensory experiences for the human infant and establishes several points. First, human milk is not a food of invariant flavor. Rather, like the milk of other mammals, human milk is flavored by ingested compounds such as garlic, mint, vanilla, and alcohol and provides the potential for a rich source of varying chemosensory experiences to the infant. Second, the infants' response to a particular flavor in milk may depend upon the recency and duration of past exposures. That is, the prior diet of mothers, and consequently their infants, may modify the infants' responses to these flavors during breastfeeding.

Key Words: diet • flavor • lactation • mother-infant interaction

Journal of Human Lactation, Vol. 11, No. 1, 39-45 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/089033449501100122
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Child NeurolHome page
P. M. Bingham
Deprivation and Dysphagia in Premature Infants
J Child Neurol, June 1, 2009; 24(6): 743 - 749.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Exp Biol MedHome page
P. Abate, M. Pueta, N. E. Spear, and J. C. Molina
Fetal Learning About Ethanol and Later Ethanol Responsiveness: Evidence Against "Safe" Amounts of Prenatal Exposure
Exp Biol Med, February 1, 2008; 233(2): 139 - 154.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
S. A. Lederman, S. R. Akabas, B. J. Moore, M. E. Bentley, B. Devaney, M. W. Gillman, M. S. Kramer, J. A. Mennella, A. Ness, and J. Wardle
Summary of the Presentations at the Conference on Preventing Childhood Obesity, December 8, 2003
Pediatrics, October 1, 2004; 114(4/S1): 1146 - 1173.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
S. Jacob, N. A. Spencer, S. B. Bullivant, S. A. Sellergren, J. A. Mennella, and M. K. McClintock
Effects of breastfeeding chemosignals on the human menstrual cycle
Hum. Reprod., February 1, 2004; 19(2): 422 - 429.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Hum LactHome page
J. F. Ayers
The Use of Alternative Therapies in the Support of Breastfeeding
J Hum Lact, February 1, 2000; 16(1): 52 - 56.
[Abstract] [PDF]