Breastfeeding and potential sensory imprinting

Breastmilk provides well-known nutritional and functional advantages and in addition a greater sensory variety as compared to infant formula. Volatile and soluble sensory components from the mother's diet are transmitted prenatally into the amniotic fluid and postnatally into breastmilk and can be detected by the fetus and infant. Breastfeeding is suggested to serve as a bridge from prenatal flavor experiences to the varied sensory world of complementary feeding and family diet afterwards. Nevertheless definite data to prove this plausible assumption are still missing. Randomized intervention trials with a necessary long-term follow-up are difficult to implement and rarely achieved. Lasting effects of early sensory experiences have so far been demonstrated mostly in the first year of life and by applying intensive sensory interventions, which are hardly possible in a habitual maternal diet. The practical relevance of a potential sensory imprinting by breastfeeding still remains open. Nevertheless a varied diet in pregnancy and lactation can be recommended not only for nutritional reasons but also from a hedonic sensory perspective.