Three hypotheses, not mutually exclusive, may explain the preference for more concentrated sucrose solutions among FHP/PDEP children. First, they may be exposed to more sweets from an early age and learn from their families the cultural meaning and appropriateness of sweet-tasting foods [50]. Whether their mothers, who were more likely to be obese and mood disturbed, transmitted this information through example or by proffering such foods [51] is unknown. To this end, research has revealed that both BMI and mood disturbances in women are associated positively with sweet food consumption [45] and that obese adults like the taste of sweets (and fats) more than do non-obese adults [46]. Through familiarization, children develop a sense of what should, or should not, taste sweet [52,53].
