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Determinants of eating behavior across the lifespan, relationship with health


Researchers

S. Chambaron, L. Marty, S. Monnery Patris, S. Nicklaus.

Enginneers and technicians

J. Dahmani, V. Feyen, C. Sellier, E. Szleper, F. Teil.

PhD students

L. Arrazat, O. Chêne, A. Geny, C. Riera-Navarro, B. Verdeau, J. Youssef.

Post-docs

J. Melendrez Ruiz.

Trainees

L. Démoulin, M. Deniau, A. Richard, M. Veyrunes.

The group gathers a large range of expertise: eating behaviour, sensory evaluation, developmental and cognitive psychology, ethology, nutrition and statistics.
Despite different public policies aiming at nutritional prevention of health, eating behaviour still leads, for many consumers, to diets quite apart from the recommendations. In this context, it is important to understand better how eating behaviours are formed in the early years of life, how they evolve along the life course, and how they are associated to malnutrition in the elderly. This knowledge could help to identify potential levers of eating behaviour modification towards a healthier diet while maintaining the pleasure to eat.

Key words : Infants, children, adults, elderly persons, dependency, perception, taste, olfaction, texture, learning, parental feeding practices, parent-child interactions, overweight, obesity, malnutrition nutrition, pleasure, sustainable diet, consumers, intervention, appetite, food intake, cognition, representations.

Thematic : We study sensory and cognitive determinants of eating behaviour (preferences, choices, intake), their development during childhood and their dynamics along the life course.

Research group in detail Open all tabs

Our aim is to understand better the determinants of eating behaviours taking into account sensory characteristics and nutritional properties of foods, and also the previous experiences, the psychological and cognitive characteristics of individuals.

Theme 1 : Early development of food preferences and eating behaviours

  • - Relative effect of different factors that could explain food preferences and eating behaviours during early childhood on the basis of cohort data and statistical modelling approaches.
  • - Relative efficiency of different learning mechanisms evaluated thanks to interventional studies.
  • - Role of exposure on attraction to sweet foods and brain responses to sweet solutions.
  • - Evolution of the control of food intake in infancy and early childhood: effect of maternal feeding practices.
  • - Role of feeding practices, sensory reactivity and experiences on likes and dislikes and on neophobic behaviours.

Theme 2 : Role of perceptive and cognitive mechanisms on food preferences and eating behaviours

  • - Role of the sensory characteristics
  • - Role of implicit mechanisms (priming)
  • - Effect of context and information

Theme 3 : Effect of eating behaviour on the nutritional status of elderly individuals

  • - Characterization of the variability of preferences and food practices within the elderly population
  • - Role of the sensory, psychological, and social factors on the decrease of appetite
  • - Development of foods adapted to the chemosensory and oral capacities of elderly people

Sensory evaluation

- Hedonic measurements for different foods or sensory stimuli
- Qualitative approaches (in-depth interviews, focus groups) and quantitatives approaches (questionnaires)
- Psychophysics: measurements of gustatory and olfactory sensitivities

Ethology

Behavioural measurements: in usual contexts of consumption (at home, in nurseries, in school canteens, in nursing homes, …) or in the lab.

Psychology

Experimental psychology tests: association tasks, categorizations tasks, ranking, priming paradigms…

Physiology

Measurements of brain activations in response to visual or gustatory stimuli by electroencephalography or by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Statistics

Statistical modelling of preferences or behaviours

Human model

Our research aims at studying human eating behaviour all along the life course, with a specific focus on childhood (infant, toddler and children) and on the ageing population (living at home or in nursing homes).

Edulia project : Marie Sklodowska- Curie grant agreement No 764985

Edulia responds to the urgent need of EU society to promote healthier eating from childhood. Based on the relations of sensory perception, pleasure, food choice and food behaviour, the project will look for new approaches to drive children to like and actively choose healthy foods, developing healthier habits. Two PhD students are involved in this project: Kaat Philippe studies the links between feeding parental practices and young children's eating behaviours and Sofia de Rosso studies the effect on parental feeding behaviors of disseminating recommendations on good practices for establishing healthy eating habits from an early age.

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IMPLICEAT project : Project-ANR-17-CE21-0001

The main scientific objective of IMPLICEAT is to better understand food choice decision mechanisms in normal weight, overweight and obese adults. The central hypothesis is that people cognition and eating behaviour, in particular food choices, are not only influenced by conscious perception of cues but also by non-conscious/non-attentive exposure to these cues. IMPLICEAT provides unique opportunities, at a technical level (1) to develop innovative methodologies both at the behavioral level as in neuroscience; at a societal level (2) to disseminate, towards public authorities, substantial findings based on implicit approaches, adaptable in different socio economic contexts, in order to highlight links between food choice, health and implicit cognition

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Opaline project : Observatory of Food Preferences in Infants and Children

Explain how food liking for different food categories emerges up to the age of 2 years, taking into account peri- and post-natal feeding experiences, child acceptance of various tastes and odours, and parental feeding practices.

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Habeat project

Compare different strategies for promoting a novel vegetable acceptance and study factors associated to children’s ability to control their food intake in challenging situations in which they may overeat..

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Sofi project

Study socio-cultural determinants of parental feeding practices during childhood based on data from several birth cohorts (Elfe, EDEN et OPALINE ).

Find out more on the Elfe study      Find out more on the OPALINE study

Punch project

Understand better the determinants of infant and children’s eating behavior, by taking into account sociological, psychological, experiential, and sensory factors and evaluate the effectiveness of innovative levers of actions in order to modify school-aged children’s eating behaviour, exploring tracks suggested by cognitive psychology, behavior science, economics and marketing.

Aupalesens project

Study the effect of sensory factors on food intake of elderly people in order to tackle malnutrition.

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Renessens project

Develop solutions to adapt food offer to needs, expectations, liking and appetite of elderly individuals in a situation of culinary dependence.

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Alimasens project

Develop and propose foods adapted to the chewing difficulties experienced by elderly people while combining eating pleasure, eating comfort and nutritional efficacy.

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Projet Qualiment PATATE

Physiologie orale et Acceptabilité de la Texture de l'AlimenT chez le jeune Enfant.

Marty, L., Nicklaus, S., Miguet, M., Chambaron, S. and Monnery Patris, S. (2018). When do healthiness and liking drive children's food choices? The influence of social context and weight status. Appetite 125: 466-473.

Lange, C., Yuan, W. L., Schoumacker, R., Deglaire, A., de Lauzon-Guillain, B., Chabanet, C. and Nicklaus, S. (2018). Assessment of liking for saltiness, sweetness and fattiness sensations in children: Validation of a questionnaire. Food. Qual. Prefer. 65: 81-91.

Nicklaus, S., Divaret-Chauveau, A., Chardon, M.-L., Roduit, C., Kaulek, V., Ksiazek, E., Dalphin, M.-L., Karvonen, A. M., Kirjavainen, P., Pekkanen, J., Lauener, R., Schmausser-Hechfellner, E., Renz, H., Braun-Fahrländer, C., Riedler, J., Vuitton, D. A., Von Mutius, E. and Dalphin, J.-C. (2019). The protective effect of cheese consumption at 18 months on allergic diseases in the first 6 years. Allergy 74(4): 788-798.

Demonteil, L., Ksiazek, E., Marduel, A., Dusoulier, M., Weenen, H., Tournier, C. and Nicklaus, S. (2018). Patterns and predictors of food texture introduction in French children aged 4-36 months. Br. J. Nutr. 120(9): 1065-1077.

Bournez, M., Ksiazek, E., Wagner, S., Kersuzan, C., Tichit, C., Gojard, S., Thierry, X., Charles, M.-A., Lioret, S., de Lauzon-Guillain, B. and Nicklaus, S. (2018). Factors associated with the introduction of complementary feeding in the French ELFE cohort study. Matern. Child Nutr. 14(2): e12536.

Schwartz, C., Vandenberghe-Descamps, M., Sulmont-Rossé, C., Tournier, C. and Feron, G. (2018). Behavioral and physiological determinants of food choice and consumption at sensitive periods of the life span, a focus on infants and elderly. Innov. Food Sci. Emerg. Technol. 46: 91-106.

Brugaillères, P., Chabanet, C., Issanchou, S. and Schwartz, C. (2019). Caloric compensation ability around the age of 1 year: interplay with the caregiver-infant mealtime interaction and infant appetitive traits. Appetite 142: 104382.

Brugaillères, P., Issanchou, S., Nicklaus, S., Chabanet, C. and Schwartz, C. (2019). Caloric compensation in infants: developmental changes around the age of 1 year and associations with anthropometric measurements up to 2 years. Am. J. Clin. Nutr 109(5): 1344-1352.

Demonteil, L., Tournier, C., Marduel, A., Dusoulier, M., Weenen, H. and Nicklaus, S. (2019). Longitudinal study on acceptance of food textures between 6 and 18 months. Food. Qual. Prefer. 71: 54-65.

Lange, C., Chabanet, C., Nicklaus, S., Visalli, M. and Schwartz, C. (2019). A dynamic method to measure the evolution of liking during food consumption in 8- to 10-year-old children. Food Qual. Prefer. 71: 510-516.

Tournier, C., Demonteil, L., Canon, F., Marduel, A., Feron, G. and Nicklaus, S. (2019). A new masticatory performance assessment method for infants: a feasibility study. J. Texture Stud. 50(3): 237-247.

Bournez, M., Ksiazek, E., Charles, M.-A., Lioret, S., Brindisi, M.-C., de Lauzon-Guillain, B. and Nicklaus, S. (2019). Frequency of use of added sugar, salt, and fat in infant foods up to 10 months in the nationwide ELFE cohort study: Associated infant feeding and caregiving practices. Nutrients 11(4): 733.

Wagner, S., Issanchou, S., Chabanet, C., Lange, C., Schaal, B. and Monnery-Patris, S. (2019). Weanling infants prefer the odors of green vegetables, cheese and fish when their mothers consumed these foods during pregnancy and/or lactation. Chem. Senses 44(4): 257-265.

Monnery-Patris, S., Rigal, N., Audrey, P., Chabanet, C. and Issanchou, S. (2019). Development of a new questionnaire to assess the links between children's self-regulation of eating and related parental feeding practices. Appetite 138: 174–183.

Poquet, D., Ginon, E., Goubel, B., Chabanet, C., Marette, S., Issanchou, S. and Monnery-Patris, S. (2019). Impact of a front-of-pack nutritional traffic-light label on the nutritional quality and the hedonic value of mid-afternoon snacks chosen by mother-child dyads. Appetite 143: 104425.

Mouillot, T., Szleper, E., Vagne, G., Barthet, S., Litime, D., Brindisi, M.-C., Leloup, C., Penicaud, L., Nicklaus, S., Brondel, L. and Jacquin-Piques, A. (2019). Cerebral gustatory activation in response to free fatty acids using gustatory evoked potentials in humans. J. Lipid Res. 60(3): 661-670.

Mas, M., Brindisi, M.-C., Chabanet, C., Nicklaus, S. and Chambaron, S. (2019). Weight status and attentional biases toward foods: impact of implicit olfactory priming. Front. Psychol. 10: 1789.

Melendrez Ruiz, J., Chambaron, S., Buatois, Q., Monnery-Patris, S. and Arvisenet, G. (2019). A central place for meat, but what about pulses? Studying French consumers' representations of main dish structure, using an indirect approach. Food Res. Int. 123: 790-900.

Melendrez-Ruiz, J., Buatois, Q., Chambaron, S., Monnery-Patris, S. and Arvisenet, G. (2019). French consumers know the benefits of pulses, but do not choose them: An exploratory study combining indirect and direct approaches. Appetite 141: 104311.

Martin, C. and Issanchou, S. (2019). Nutrient sensing: What can we learn from di?erent tastes about the nutrient contents in today's foods? Food Qual. Prefer. 71: 185-196.

Melendrez-Ruiz, J., Arvisenet, G., Laugel, V., Chambaron, S. and Monnery-Patris, S. (2020). Do french consumers have the same social representations of pulses as food industry professionals? Foods 9(2): 147.

Monnery-Patris, S. and Chambaron, S. (2020). Added-value of indirect methods to assess the relationship between implicit memory and food choices in adult consumers as well as in children. Curr. Opin. Food Sci. 33: 14-20.

Andreeva, V. A., Kesse-Guyot, E., Galan, P., Feron, G., Hercberg, S., Hennequin, M. and Sulmont-Rossé, C. (2018). Adherence to national dietary guidelines in association with oral health impact on quality of life. Nutrients 10(5): 527.

Kiesswetter, E., Poggiogalle, E., Migliaccio, S., Donini, L. M., Sulmont-Rossé, C., Feart, C., Suwalska, A., Wieczorowska-Tobis, K., Palys, W., Lojko, D., Saba, A., Sinesio, F., Polito, A., Moneta, E., Ciarapica, D., Brug, J. and Volkert, D. (2018). Functional determinants of dietary intake in community-dwelling older adults: a DEDIPAC (DEterminants of DIet and Physical ACtivity) systematic literature review. Public Health Nutr. 21(10): 1886-1903.

Muñoz-Gonzalez, C., Vandenberghe-Descamps, M., Feron, G., Canon, F., Labouré, H. and Sulmont-Rossé, C. (2018). Association between salivary hypofunction and food consumption in the elderlies. A systematic literature review. J. Nutr. Health Aging 22(3): 407-419.

Sulmont-Rossé, C., Gaillet, M., Raclot, C., Duclos, M., Servelle, M. and Chambaron, S. (2018). Impact of olfactory priming on food intake in an Alzheimer's disease unit. J. Alzheimers Dis. 66(4): 1497-1506.

Vandenberghe-Descamps, M., Labouré, H., Septier, C., Feron, G. and Sulmont-Rossé, C. (2018). Oral comfort: a new concept to understand elderly people's expectations in terms of food sensory characteristics. Food. Qual. Prefer. 70: 57-67.

Schwartz, C., Vandenberghe-Descamps, M., Sulmont-Rossé, C., Tournier, C. and Feron, G. (2018). Behavioral and physiological determinants of food choice and consumption at sensitive periods of the life span, a focus on infants and elderly. Innov. Food Sci. Emerg. Technol. 46: 91-106.

Wolters, M., Volkert, D., Streicher, M., Kiesswetter, E., Torbahn, G., O'Connor, E. M., O'Keeffe, M., Kelly, M., O'Herlihy, E., O'Toole, P. W., Timmons, S., O'Shea, E., Kearney, P., van Zwienen-Pot, J., Visser, M., Maitre, I., Van Wymelbeke, V., Sulmont-Rossé, C., Nagel, G., Flechtner-Mors, M., Goisser, S., Teh, R., Hebestreit, A. and on behalf of the MaNuEL consortium (2018). Prevalence of malnutrition using harmonized definitions in older adults from different settings - a MaNuEL Study. Clin. Nutr. 38(5): 2389-2398.

  • ANR
  • Conseil Régional de Bourgogne
  • FEDER
  • Europe
  • Qualiment
  • Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de The research