The Secret to Good Children’s Nutrition Is Variety on the Menu | Press

The population’s tendency to overconsume sweets or salty foods can harm the palate.

São Paulo, November 2014 – Difficulties with eating are a common problem faced by parents during their children’s early years. After the breastfeeding period, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), parents are advised to introduce, two to three times a day, foods other than breast milk. This practice should begin between the sixth and eighth month of the baby’s life. From this stage on, the diet should include all tastes in a balanced way, since failing to alternate between sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami may impair palate development.

According to Hellen Maluly, who holds a PhD in Food Science from the University of Campinas (Unicamp), “the major issue observed in complementary feeding is that the foods offered to children are generally rich in sugar, salt, and fat. As a result, the taste buds tend to sense sweet, salty, and fatty tastes more intensely, leaving the receptors for bitter, sour, and umami ‘silent.’”

An effective alternative to overcome this challenge is homemade baby food, which can be prepared with a higher likelihood of acceptance by young children, especially during the complementary feeding period. Offering various types of foods that include the five basic tastes can help improve children’s acceptance of foods. Thus, “the umami present in foods such as peas, corn, potatoes, and spinach could also become a pleasant option to increase menu variety,” the researcher suggests. She also points out that such conditions enable learning of different tastes but will not determine future preferences, since the ability to judge these tastes will vary for each individual within their context.

UMAMI

It is the fifth basic taste of the human palate, discovered in 1908 by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda. It was scientifically recognized in 2000, when researchers at the University of Miami confirmed the existence of specific receptors for this taste on the taste buds. The amino acid glutamic acid and the nucleotides inosinate and guanylate are the main umami substances. Two key characteristics of umami are increased salivation and a lingering taste for a few minutes after eating. To learn more, visit www.portalumami.com.br.

UMAMI COMMITTEE

The Umami Committee Brazil discusses and disseminates topics related to the fifth taste. The Committee has a direct relationship with the Umami Information Center (UIC), a non-profit organization dedicated to research on the subject. To learn more, visit http://www.umamiinfo.com/.