Non-preferred Food Research Articles

Moulding

Excessive and impairing picky eating is a common problem among children for which there is little published research on efficacious psychosocial treatment. Extant research largely concerns single-case studies, or small samples of very young children, who are typically treated in hospital settings. This paper reports on outcomes of 21 children (ages 4–11) described by their parents as extremely picky eaters who met criteria for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder not associated with a developmental disorder, other eating disorder, or other eating-related anxiety disorder (e.g., specific phobia of vomiting or choking). Seven cohorts of two to four families each took part in a seven-session manualized parent-only group treatment in an outpatient setting. This group treatment focused on training parents to serve as effective coaches for daily in-home exposures to nonpreferred foods, as well as in components of parent management training to reduce problematic mealtime behaviors. Parents completed standardized feeding measures to assess picky eating and associated problem mealtime behaviors at pretreatment, posttreatment, and at 3-month follow-up, as well as a satisfaction measure at posttreatment. Results showed excellent feasibility and adherence by parents and high parent satisfaction with treatment. Paired t tests to measure within-group change showed significant pre–post treatment reductions in picky eating scales with moderate to large effect sizes. Gains were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Findings indicate that a relatively brief group treatment that focuses specifically on training parents to facilitate and carry out food exposures and contingency management procedures in their homes is associated with reductions in functionally impairing picky eating and related negative mealtime behaviors in elementary school-age children.

Black-tailed deer feeding bouts: dynamic events

Foraging bouts of captive black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus Richardson) were investigated to examine how searching for food affects diet selection. We determined food preference for three types of food under ad libitum conditions and then studied the foraging of two deer in a 0.5-ha, vegetation-free pen in which we controlled food availability and distribution of the same three types of food. Our hypotheses included the following: (i) clumping of preferred food into patches would enable animals to better exploit food distributions; (ii) the switch from preferred to lower-ranked food would be gradual as preferred food was less frequently encountered; and (iii) deer would respond to a lower abundance of preferred foods by eating more of lower-ranked food items at each feeding location. Searching for food alone did not alter diet selection from ad libitum conditions. Deer nearly exhausted their highly preferred food item before switching to lower-ranked ones. Amount of preferred food already eaten during a trial was positively correlated with the time that animals continued searching before switching to lower-ranked food items. Switching was related to amount and type of food encountered and not to amount of food in the pen. Clumping of the preferred food had no significant effect on the amount of food eaten, but did significantly influence types of food encountered by one deer. When preferred food was abundant, it was not always completely eaten the first time a feeding platform was visited. Increases in the intake rates of nonpreferred food items resulted from deer visiting more feeding stations containing nonpreferred food items and not from deer eating more food at each feeding station.

Children's food intake following drinks sweetened with sucrose or aspartame: Time course effects

In two experiments, 2–5-year-old children's responsiveness to caloric density cues was examined. In a preloading protocol, consumption of fixed volumes of drinks (205 ml in Experiment 1; 150 ml in Experiment 2), sweetened with sucrose, aspartame, aspartame plus low glucose maltodextrin, or a water control, was followed by ad lib consumption from among a variety of foods. Caloric drinks had about 90 kcal in Experiment 1, 65 kcal in Experiment 2. The delay interval between the preload and the ad lib consumption was 0, 30 or 60 minutes. In Experiment 1, 24 4- and 5-year-old children participated in only one delay interval, while in Experiment 2, all 20 2- and 3-year-old children were seen in all conditions. Results revealed evidence of caloric compensation, but no evidence of preload × time delay interaction. In both experiments, aspartame also produced a significant suppression of intake relative to water, primarily due to the pattern at 30 min following the preload. Across conditions, the suppression following aspartame was usually significantly less than that produced by the caloric sweet drinks, providing evidence for postingestive effects. In Experiment 1, suppression of intake was related to the children's preferences for the foods, not to macronutrient content; consumption of nonpreferred foods was most suppressed. Consumption of sweetened drinks as long as 1 hour prior to eating suppressed food intake, and this common feeding practice may also reduce dietary variety.

Uncertain availability of a preferred food affects choice in a captive group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Food-choice was investigated in a social group of 16 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) maintained in a large outdoor compound. Three feeding stations located along the periphery of the compound were considered analogous to food patches. Color-coded aluminum panels temporarily covered each feeding apparatus, with one color corresponding to nonpreferred food (commercial biscuits) available at two locations and other colors corresponding to the certain or uncertain availability of preferred food (oranges) available at one location. Only nine chimpanzees met the criterion for learning the color/food associations and thus only those animals were included in the analysis. There was a significant decrease in choosing the station associated with oranges when the probability of availability of oranges was reduced from 0.5 to 0.1 but not from 1.0 to 0.5. In addition, there was a significant increase in the frequency with which the subjects made no choice when the probability of availability of oranges was reduced from 1.0 to 0.1. The data indicate that the uncertain availability of preferred food in a choice situation affects choice behavior in a social group of chimpanzees studied under controlled conditions.

Humoral link in the mechanism of formation of the food refusal conditioned response in the snail.

1. Hemolymph from donor snails conditioned to refuse food facilitates the development of refusal of the same type of food in intact recipients. Hemolymph of pseudoconditioned donors inhibits conditioning in recipients. 2. The facilitating effect manifests itself variously depending on the type of conditioned stimulus (preferred or nonpreferred food) and the amount of injected hemolymph. At certain doses the facilitating effect gives way to an inhibitory effect. 3. Facilitation of conditioning is of a seasonal nature.

Effects of lithium chloride illness on food preference in pigeons: A concurrent operants procedure for the study of food-aversion learning

Food-aversion learning in pigeons was studied using a concurrent operants methodology. Twelve subjects received extensive baseline training consisting of exposure to a concurrent variable-interval 1-min variable-interval 1-min schedule of reinforcement. A different food, milo or peas, was associated with each schedule. Following the establishment of stable preferences, the birds were given exposure to one of the foods in their home cages. Immediately thereafter, the birds were injected with lithium chloride. For half of the birds, the dosage was 0.3 M; for the other half, it was 0.6 M. Within these groups, for half of the subjects, the injection followed ingestion of the preferred food; for the remaining subjects, it followed the nonpreferred food. Subsequently, the animals were again exposed to the operant choice procedure, and alterations in food preference were assessed. In general, postinfection shifts in preference were greater for birds that received the 0.6 M dosage. In all cases, preinjection levels of preference eventually reappeared. In addition to the effects on food preference, lithium toxicosis also tended to suppress animals’ overall rates of keypecking. Taken together, these results support the potential applicability of a concurrent operants methodology to the study of food-aversion learning.

Preschool Children's Food Sharing with Friends and Acquaintances

BIRCH, LEANN LIPPS, and BILLMAN, JANE. Preschool Children's Food Sharing with Friends and Acquaintances. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 387-395. To investigate children's sharing of preferred and nonpreferred food with same-sex peers, 57 3-5-year-old children participated twice as potential sharers-once with a friend and once with an acquaintance. Food was unequally distributed, with the target child receiving 10 pieces each of preferred and nonpreferred food and the potential recipient only 1. Half of the target children had been recipients before becoming sharers. The analysis revealed a sex x relationship interaction, with girls sharing more with friends than with acquaintances, and boys not sharing differentially. Most sharing was actually elicited by the potential recipient, with friends being more active elicitors; spontaneous and passive sharing were rare. The type of previous experience as a recipient influenced subsequent sharing behavior: children who had received food earlier were more likely to share than those who had not.

Contingency Management of Food Selectivity and Oppositional Eating in a Mutiply Handicapped Child

A contingency management program was utilized to treat problems of food selectivity (consuming a restricted range of foods) and oppositional eating (displaying disruptive and agitated behaviors) in a multiply handicapped child. The program consisted of establishing temporal limits during meals, withholding social reinforcement for problem behaviors, and contingently reinforcing consumption of nonpreferred foods. All assessment and intervention procedures were applied by direct care staff within a residential school setting. Using an ABAB reversal design, the treatment program was demonstrated to produce substantial increases in mealtime consumption when contrasted with no-treatment conditions. A 1-month follow-up assessment revealed a near 100% level of consumption as well as desired weight gain.

Optimal diet models and rodent food consumption

Generalizations derived from simple optimal diet models were field-tested at forest feeding stations where a choice of two foods was offered. The relationship between food availability and consumption by three species of rodents ( Peromyscus maniculatus, Clethrionomys gapperi and Napaeozapus insignis) was examined in five separate experiments. In all five cases rodents preferred the food which yielded the highest caloric gain per unit handling time, as predicted by the simple models. However, in all five cases, less preferred items were sampled even when they were not part of the optimal diet. In three cases the consumption of the non-preferred food type varied with its abundance and in one case food preference changed with its availability. The latter three results indicate that these rodents do not use simple optimal diet strategies.

A clinical note on food preference of individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome: the need for empirical research.

The results have important heuristic value for several reasons. First, they indicate that contrary to popular belief, individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome do indicate a definite and, in fact, consistent food preference. Further, the degree of food preference seems to be related to the level of cognitive ability. Finally, these subjects consistently chose a lesser amount of preferred food over a greater amount of non-preferred food. This finding has many potential implications for contingent dietary management. These results which are contradictory to many reported observations, also indicate the importance of collecting objective data regarding the eating behaviour of this population.

Tail pinch-induced eating does generalize to a nonpreferred but familiar food

Mild tail pinch has been reported to induce many of the same behaviors as electrical stimulation of the brain. In this study a 4 min tail pinch induced significant eating of either canned dog food or rat chow. In contrast to eating produced by brain stimulation, which does not generalize along the appropriate stimulus dimension of food objects, removal of the tail pinch-induced eaters' preferred food resulted in their eating another nonpreferred, but familiar food. With only the nonpreferred food available, intake of animals who preferred rat chow increased and intake of animals who preferred dog food decreased compared to their respective controls, although no initial differences existed. When both foods were again available, 13 18 animals retained their initial preference while 5 18 showed no preference. No animals reversed their preference. Tail pinch-induced eating may be more similar to normal eating than that produced by electrical brain stimulation.

Persistence of the pattern of feeding in chicks with hyperstriatal lesions.

Chicks with dorsal midline hyperstriatal lesions (DMHA) were trained to prefer red to yellow food before being presented with a choice from a plain floor (experiment 1) or a pebble-encrusted floor (experiment 2). On both tests DMHAs showed a relatively stable pattern of choice compared to controls. In experiment 1, controls decreased their intake of non-preferred yellow food on day 1, but this sharply increased on subsequent tests. In experiment 2, controls increased the number of pebbles pecked, and thus, the length of a run of pecks on non-preferred food changed with respect to DMHAs. Chicks with more lateral lesions gave patterns distinct from controls and DMHAs showing an initial disruption of the trained preference. The choice of chicks with more ventral or posterior lesions could not be distinguished from controls. The lack of lability of the trained feeding behavior of DMHA-lesioned chicks is interpreted as consistent with the suggestion that the DMHA may have functions which are similar to the "hippocampus" of mammals.

Vole Cycles: Test of Another Hypothesis

Previous articleNext article No AccessLetters to the EditorsVole Cycles: Test of Another HypothesisGeorge O. Batzli and Frank A. PitelkaGeorge O. Batzli Search for more articles by this author and Frank A. Pitelka Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 109, Number 968Jul. - Aug., 1975 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/283019 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 10Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1975 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Eeva M. Soininen, Dorothée Ehrich, Nicolas Lecomte, Nigel G. Yoccoz, Arnaud Tarroux, Dominique Berteaux, Gilles Gauthier, Ludovic Gielly, Christian Brochmann, Galina Gussarova, Rolf A. Ims Sources of variation in small rodent trophic niche: new insights from DNA metabarcoding and stable isotope analysis, Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies 50, no.33 (May 2014): 361–381.https://doi.org/10.1080/10256016.2014.915824Adam Kent, Susanne Plesner Jensen, C.Patrick Doncaster Model of microtine cycles caused by lethal toxins in non-preferred food plants, Journal of Theoretical Biology 234, no.44 (Jun 2005): 593–604.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2004.12.014S. K. Alibhai Effects of diet on reproductive performance of the Bank vole ( Clethrionomys glareolus ), Journal of Zoology 205, no.33 (Aug 2009): 445–452.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1985.tb05629.xJudith H. Myers, Kathy S. Williams Does tent caterpillar attack reduce the food quality of red alder foliage?, Oecologia 62, no.11 (Apr 1984): 74–79.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377376S. Archer, L. L. Tieszen Effects of simulated grazing on foliage and root production and biomass allocation in an arctic tundra sedge (Eriophorum vaginatum), Oecologia 58, no.11 (Apr 1983): 92–102.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00384547DAVID F. RHOADES Herbivore Population Dynamics and Plant Chemistry, (Jan 1983): 155–220.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-209160-5.50012-X Robert H. Tamarin Dispersal, Population Regulation, and K-Selection in Field Mice, The American Naturalist 112, no.985985 (Oct 2015): 545–555.https://doi.org/10.1086/283296Thomas G. Hallam, Daniel S. Simberloff On the intrinsic structure of differential equation models of ecosystems, Ecological Modelling 3, no.33 (Aug 1977): 167–182.https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3800(77)90027-8 Adam Łomnicki Evolution of Plant Resistance and Herbivore Population Cycles, The American Naturalist 111, no.977977 (Oct 2015): 198–200.https://doi.org/10.1086/283153Jay B Labov Phytoestrogens and mammalian reproduction, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology 57, no.11 (Jan 1977): 3–9.https://doi.org/10.1016/0300-9629(77)90339-5

Emotionality, hunger, and normal eating: Implications for interpretation of electrically induced behavior

Food preferences and the reluctance to substitute one food for another were studied in deprived rats. The suggestion that electrically induced eating differs from normal eating was supported; deprived animals showed less reluctance to switch from one food to another, and showed a different food preference than has been reported for stimulated animals. However, emotional and unemotional animals differed in this regard. Emotional deprived animals, as has been reported for stimulated animals, (i) were more reluctant to switch from a preferred to a nonpreferred food, (ii) were more likely to switch first to drinking before eating the nonpreferred food, (iii) preferred novel solid food to familiar and normally preferred liquid diet, and (iv) were more inhibited in the eating of the solid food when presented alone than of the liquid food when presented alone. These qualitative similarities between emotionally deprived animals and hypothalamically stimulated animals suggest that one of the ways that stimulated animals differ from normally hungry animals is that they are emotionally aroused, as well as motivated to eat, by hypothalamic stimulation.

Changes in colored or flavored food preferences in chickens as a function of shock

Twenty-four two-week old chicks were first tested to determine which of two mashes, differing either in color or in taste only, was preferred; Ss were then trained such that the Experimentals received a painful leg shock when they ate their preferred food, while the Controls were either shocked in the absence of the test food or not shocked. Feeding on the nonpreferred food went undisturbed in all three groups. Several posttraining tests were given to detect any changes in colored or flavored food preferences. Electric shock proved to be an effective noxious stimulus for changing food preferences based on visual cues but not for those distinguishable by taste alone.