Ustun-Elayan, Beyza, Blissett, Jacqueline, Covey, Judith, Schaal, Benoist and Reissland, Nadja (2025). Flavor learning and memory in utero as assessed through the changing pattern of olfactory responses from fetal to neonatal life. Appetite, 208 ,
Abstract
Mammalian chemosensory experience begins in utero, where fetuses are exposed to odors and tastes from the mother’s diet. Although the effects of prenatal flavor exposure in humans have been investigated postnatally in infant behaviors, longitudinal follow-up studies of fetal and neonatal responses are lacking. To address this, we compared fetal and neonatal facial reactions to specific odors by asking mothers to consume a single calorie-controlled encapsulated dose of powdered kale (n = 14) or a carrot (n = 18) before 4D ultrasound scans at 32 and 36 gestational weeks. Following the 36-week scan, mothers consumed the capsules daily for three consecutive weeks. Results indicated that neonates (mean age = 3.06 weeks) showed a decreased frequency of cry-face, and an increased frequency of laughter-face gestalts in response to the odor stimulus experienced prenatally, regardless of associated taste profile (bitter or non-bitter). These results suggest that repeated chemosensory experience in utero can reduce the aversive hedonic responses of fetuses and shape postnatal memory of the in utero experienced odor. This suggests that prenatal chemosensory mechanisms may have the potential to promote healthy eating habits after birth.
Publication DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2025.107891 |
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Divisions: | College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Psychology College of Health & Life Sciences > Aston Institute of Health & Neurodevelopment (AIHN) College of Health & Life Sciences Aston University (General) |
Additional Information: | Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. You are not required to obtain permission to reuse this article. |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Chemosensory continuity,Flavor memory,Human fetus,Human neonate,Olfaction,Prenatal flavor learning,General Psychology,Nutrition and Dietetics |
Publication ISSN: | 1095-8304 |
Last Modified: | 01 Apr 2025 07:12 |
Date Deposited: | 03 Feb 2025 16:29 |
Full Text Link: | |
Related URLs: |
https://www.sci ... 0431?via%3Dihub
(Publisher URL) http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL) |
PURE Output Type: | Article |
Published Date: | 2025-04-01 |
Published Online Date: | 2025-01-30 |
Accepted Date: | 2025-01-28 |
Authors: |
Ustun-Elayan, Beyza
Blissett, Jacqueline ( ![]() Covey, Judith Schaal, Benoist Reissland, Nadja |