Human food aversions: Nature and acquisition

This paper reports a two-stage investigation of human food aversions. A questionnaire survey was carried out with a sample of normal adults, followed by an interview study of a sub-sample of the positive respondents. Data on frequency, strength, avoidance, modality, content, duration, age of acquisition, mode of acquisition, and generalization are reported. Observations are made on the similarities between those aversions that fit the definition of conditioned food aversions, and those that do not. Implications for future research are discussed, and the need for the study of the whole range of human food aversions is emphasized.