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American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 73, No. 6, 1080-1085, June 2001
© 2001 American Society for Clinical Nutrition

Original Research Communication

Flavor variety enhances food acceptance in formula-fed infants1,2,3

Carolyn J Gerrish and Julie A Mennella

1 From the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia.

2 Supported by grants HD37119 and HD08428 from the National Institutes of Health and by a grant from the Gerber Companies Foundation. The Gerber Products Company supplied the baby foods used in this study.

3 Address reprint requests to JA Mennella, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308. E-mail: mennella{at}monell.org.


   ABSTRACT
TOP
 ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Background: Research in humans and animal models suggests that acceptance of solid foods by infants during weaning is enhanced by early experiences with flavor variety.

Objective: We tested the hypotheses that the acceptance of novel foods by formula-fed infants could be facilitated by providing the infants with a variety of flavors at the time when beikost is first introduced and that, contrary to medical lore, infants who had previously consumed fruit would be less likely to reject vegetables when first introduced than would infants without such an experience.

Design: The infants' acceptance of a novel vegetable (puréed carrot) and a novel meat (puréed chicken) was evaluated after a 9-d exposure period in 3 groups of infants, some of whom had previously consumed fruit. During the home-exposure period, one group was fed only carrots, the target vegetable; a second group was fed only potatoes, a vegetable that differed in flavor from carrots; and a third group was fed a variety of vegetables that did not include carrots.

Results: Infants fed either carrots or a variety of vegetables, but not those fed potatoes, ate significantly more of the carrots after the exposure period. Exposure to a variety of vegetables also facilitated the acceptance of the novel food, puréed chicken, and daily experience with fruit enhanced the infants' initial acceptance of carrots.

Conclusion: These findings are the first experimental evidence to indicate that exposure to a variety of flavors enhances acceptance of novel foods in human infants.

Key Words: Infant nutrition • weaning • flavor • food acceptance • development • taste


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Concerns about the timing and order of introduction to solid foods (beikost) represent one of the primary matters discussed by mothers with their children's pediatricians (1, 2). Parents are often advised to complement milk feedings first with a grain product, such as precooked cereal, and to then gradually introduce other solid foods such as puréed fruit, vegetables, and meats. Although some health professionals recommend that foods can be introduced in no particular order (3, 4), others contend that vegetables should be introduced before fruit because the infants' inherent preference for sweet tastes (5) will interfere with vegetable acceptance. Ultimately, the goal is to gradually accustom children to a varied diet that meets nutritional needs for growth and development (3).

The transition from an exclusive milk diet to a mixed diet consisting of milk and solid foods can be facilitated by feeding infants a particular food for several days (6) or by providing them with familiar flavors such that they experience the same flavor in the 2 feeding situations (7). However, the exposure needed to enhance acceptance may not require the actual flavor. Rather, research in humans (7, 8) and animal models (9–11) suggests that experience with flavor variety enhances the acceptance of novel foods during weaning. Of interest is the finding that breast-fed infants are more willing to accept a novel vegetable on first presentation than are formula-fed infants (6). One explanation for this finding is that breast-fed infants are exposed to a variety of flavors in mother's milk whereas formula-fed infants experience a monotony of flavors in infant formula (12).

The present study, which builds on these previous findings, was designed to determine whether the acceptance of novel foods by formula-fed infants could be enhanced by providing them with a variety of flavors when beikost is first introduced. To this aim, we evaluated the acceptance of a novel vegetable (puréed carrot) and meat (puréed chicken) after an exposure period in 3 groups of infants, some of whom were also being fed fruit. One group was fed the target vegetable, carrots, during the exposure period; a second group was fed puréed potatoes, a vegetable that differed in flavor and texture from carrots; and a third was fed a variety of vegetables. Thus, infants were exposed to foods that differed not only in their taste and smell, but also in texture—another important component of flavor.

Three hypotheses were tested. First, we hypothesized that infants who were exposed to either carrots or a variety of vegetables would accept carrots more readily after the exposure period than would infants fed potatoes only. Second, we hypothesized that infants fed a variety of vegetables would accept the meat flavor more readily than would the other groups of infants. Because there is no evidence to support the claim that experience with sweet tastes leads to a generalized heightened sweet preference (13), we also hypothesized that, contrary to medical lore, infants who had previous experience with fruit would not reject carrots initially when compared with infants without such experience.


   SUBJECTS AND METHODS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Subjects
Forty-eight nonsmoking mothers who began feeding cereal to their infants during the past month and planned on introducing other solid foods during the next few weeks were recruited from advertisements in local newspapers and from Women, Infant and Children programs in Philadelphia. To control for potential confounders due to flavor experiences in breast milk (12), only mothers of formula-fed infants were recruited. The racial background of the mothers and their infants was 45.8% African American, 39.6% white, 2.1% Hispanic, and 12.5% other ethnic groups. All infants were born full-term and were healthy at the time of testing as reported by their mothers. The procedures used in this study were approved by the Committee on Studies Involving Human Beings at the University of Pennsylvania.

On the first day of testing, infants had been eating cereal for a mean (±SD) of 3.8 ± 0.4 wk, which indicates that complementary foods were first introduced to these formula-fed infants when they were 4.0 ± 0.1 mo of age, a finding that is consistent with other reports (2) and the recommendations made by the Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics (3). Although none of the infants had consumed vegetables or meats before their enrollment in the study, 32% were fed puréed fruit, fruit juices, or both at least daily; 16% were fed fruit occasionally; and the remaining 50% of the infants had never consumed fruit.

Methods
To accustom the infants to the testing procedures (7), mothers were sent a bib and spoon to use when feeding their infants during the 3 d that preceded the first testing session and during the 12-d experimental period. Mothers were also given a mask that covered the nose and mouth area to wear while feeding their infants (7); the mask was worn by the mothers during testing to eliminate any potential influence of their facial or verbal responses on the infants' behaviors (14) and to minimize the effects of maternal responses to the food odors. The mothers were asked to refrain from introducing additional foods or beverages to their infants before and during the 12-d experimental period. To encourage compliance, each mother kept a daily record of what they fed their infants, and daily phone contact was made with each mother during the exposure period.

Food
All foods used in this experiment were commercially available infant foods (Gerber Products Co, Fremont, MI). The foods were Stage 1 puréed carrots [1.46 kJ (0.35 kcal)/g], peas [2.05 kJ (0.49 kcal)/g], potatoes [2.05 kJ (0.49 kcal)/g], and squash [1.46 kJ (0.35 kcal)/g], and Stage 2 puréed chicken [4.73 kJ (1.13 kcal)/g]. The maximum amount of food that could be extracted from one jar was {approx}68 g.

Monell test sessions
As illustrated in Figure 1Go, each mother-infant pair participated in the study for 12 d. On days 1, 11, and 12, each mother brought her infant to the Monell Center. To minimize possible effects due to different levels of satiation, the 3 test sessions took place at the same time of day that the infants were fed the food during the home-exposure periods and the infants were last fed formula 219.1 ± 21.5 min before testing. There was no significant difference among the groups in the length of time since the infants were last fed before the testing sessions.



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  		FIGURE 1. . Experimental design illustrating the type of vegetable fed on each day of the 12-d study to 3 groups of infants: carrot group (n = 16), potato group (n = 16), and variety group (n = 16). On days 1, 11, and 12, the infants were fed by their mothers at the Monell Center, whereas on days 2–10 the infants were fed at home. Car, puréed carrots; Chk, puréed chicken; Pot, puréed potatoes; Pea, puréed peas; Squ, puréed squash. The shaded areas indicate the test days on which the infant's feeding behavior was monitored at the Monell Center.

 
After a brief period of acclimation, mothers were videotaped as they fed their infants puréed carrots on days 1 and 11 and puréed chicken on day 12; the contents of 3 jars was the maximum amount of food offered during each test session. Mothers wore a mask identical to that worn at home and were asked to refrain from talking during the feeding sessions to eliminate any potential influence of their facial or verbal expressions on the infants' behaviors (14). Analysis of the videotapes showed that none of the infants were distracted by the masks because they had been familiarized with the masks before the actual testing occurred. Each mother fed her infant at his or her customary pace until the infant refused the spoonful of food on >=3 consecutive occasions (7). All food that spilled onto the tray or bib was placed in the bowl before being weighed. The amount of food consumed was determined by weighing each jar of baby food immediately before and after each feeding on a top-loading balance (PM 15; Mettler, Highstown, NJ) accurate to 1.0 g. Immediately after the feeding session, mothers rated their infants' enjoyment of the food on a 5-point scale (1, extreme like; 5, extreme dislike).

Home-exposure period
As illustrated in Figure 1Go—although the testing procedures on days 1, 11, and 12 were identical for all groups—the types of food fed to the infants during the 9-d exposure period at home (days 2–10) were different. Mothers and infants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental groups: the carrot group was fed carrots only, the target vegetable; the potato group was fed potatoes only; and the variety group was fed a variety of vegetables that did not include carrots. The length of the exposure period was based on the finding that infants require 8–10 exposures to a new food to increase acceptance (6).

During each day of exposure, mothers offered their infants the contents of one jar of commercially prepared infant food until they refused the spoon on >=3 occasions. The original labels were removed and replaced with another that indicated the date on which the contents of that particular jar should be fed. Mothers then rated their infants' enjoyment of the food, resealed the jar, and stored it in a freezer until they returned to the Monell Center. All but 1 mother returned every jar and all but 5 mothers completed the rating scales during each day of the home-exposure period.

Questionnaire
Mothers were queried about the frequency with which they ate carrots and chicken since their baby's birth and throughout the 9-d exposure period. In addition, all but one completed an 8-item scale that measured their variety-seeking tendency with respect to foods (15).

Data analyses
For each infant during each test session, we determined the total intake of food (g), the duration of feeding (min), the rate of feeding (g/min), and the mother's perception of their infants' enjoyment of the food. To determine whether there were significant differences among the 3 groups in the infants' relative acceptance of carrots, a proportional score for each of these indexes was calculated by dividing the infant's response to carrots after the exposure period (day 11) by the response on day 1 plus that on day 11. Thus, absolute differences possibly due to other factors were eliminated and differences in relative responses were compared (16). Arc sine transformations were conducted to stabilize the variance before a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with exposure group (carrot, potato, and variety groups) as the grouping factor. A separate one-way ANOVA was also conducted to determine whether the 3 groups differed in their acceptance of the novel food, chicken. Separate two-factor repeated-measures ANOVAs were conducted to determine possible group differences in the infants' intake of vegetables and the mothers' ratings of their infants' enjoyment of the foods during the 9-d exposure period. The between-subjects factor was group and the within-subjects factor was day of the experimental period. Significant effects in the ANOVAs were analyzed with paired t tests. When multiple comparisons were conducted, a Bonferroni correction was applied. All summary statistics are expressed as means ± SEMs.

To determine whether prior consumption of fruit hindered vegetable acceptance, we conducted a one-way ANOVA on the amount of carrots consumed on day 1 with frequency of fruit consumption (daily, occasionally, or not at all) as the grouping factor. Note that day 1 of testing occurred before the exposure period and was the first time each infant in the present study was fed carrots. Those infants who had previously consumed fruit began doing so when they were 13.2 ± 0.9 wk of age. STATISTICA (1998; StatSoft, Inc, Tulsa, OK) was used for the analysis.


   RESULTS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Subject characteristics
The characteristics of the 3 groups of mother-infant pairs are listed in Table 1Go. There was no significant difference in age among the groups of mothers or infants, nor were there any significant group differences in the infants' weight and length or in the number of weeks they had been fed cereal.


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  		TABLE 1.. Subject characteristics1
 
Effect of exposure on acceptance of carrots
As shown in Table 2Go, the infants' relative acceptance of carrots was affected by the type or types of vegetables fed during the home-exposure period (P = 0.02). The carrot (paired t15df = 3.63, P = 0.002) and variety (paired t15df = 3.46, P = 0.003) groups ate significantly more carrots after the 9-d exposure period than before. There was no significant difference in the proportional increase in carrot acceptance between these 2 groups. On average, these 2 groups consumed 189.5 ± 76.1% more carrots after the exposure period. In contrast, the amounts of carrots eaten by the potato group before and after the exposure period were not significantly different.


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  		TABLE 2.. Infants' acceptance of carrots before and after the home-exposure period1
 
Although there were no significant differences between the 3 groups in the length of time that the infants spent eating carrots during the test sessions at the Monell Center, the groups differed significantly in the rate at which the infants ate carrots (P = 0.01). That is, the carrot (paired t15df = 2.23, P = 0.04) and variety (paired t15df = 3.52, P = 0.003) groups ate carrots at a faster rate after the exposure period than before.

The mothers' perception of their infants' relative enjoyment of the carrots also differed significantly among the groups (P = 0.007). Mothers who fed their infants a variety of vegetables reported that their infants enjoyed carrots more after (paired t15df = 2.54, P = 0.02) than before the home-exposure period. The significant correlation between these 2 measures (r44df = -0.46, P = 0.001) indicated that the mothers' rating did reflect how much their infants ate. That is, the more positive the mothers' rating of her infants' enjoyment of the foods, the higher the intake.

Effect of exposure on acceptance of chicken
As shown in Figure 2Go, the infants' acceptance of chicken was also significantly affected by the type of vegetable consumed during the exposure period. The variety group consumed significantly more chicken than did the carrot group (unpaired t30df = 2.32). There were no significant group differences in the duration of feeding, the rate of feeding, or the mothers' ratings of their infants' enjoyment of this food.



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  		FIGURE 2. . The mean (±SEM) amount of a novel meat (puréed chicken) consumed (on day 12) after the 9-d home-exposure period by the 3 groups of infants: carrot group (n = 16; fed only carrots), potato group (n = 16; fed only potatoes), and variety group (n = 16; fed a variety of vegetables, ie, peas, potatoes, and squash). *Significant differences among groups, P < 0.05 (ANOVA). **Significantly different from the carrot group, P < 0.03.

 
Intake during the exposure period
As illustrated in Figure 3Go, there were significant group-by-day interactions and differences among the groups in vegetable intake during the course of the 9-d home-exposure period. The carrot and variety groups ate significantly more overall than did the potato group (variety group compared with potato group: unpaired t30df = 3.64, P = 0.001; carrot group compared with potato group: unpaired t30df = 4.99, P = 0.001), suggesting that potatoes were less preferred by the infants. There was no significant difference in overall intake between the carrot and variety groups.



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  		FIGURE 3. . The mean (±SEM) amount of vegetable consumed during each day of the 9-d home-exposure period (days 2–10) by the 3 groups of infants: carrot group (n = 16; fed only carrots), potato group (n = 16; fed only potatoes), and variety group (n = 16; fed a variety of vegetables, ie, peas, potatoes, and squash). There was a significant group-by-day interaction, P < 0.001 (ANOVA) and a significant group effect, P < 0.001 (ANOVA). Pea, puréed peas; Pot, puréed potatoes; Squ, puréed squash.

 
There were also day-to-day differences in the amount of food consumed depending on the type of vegetable offered (P = 0.001). Although the potatoes were less preferred, the potato group ate significantly more potatoes by the end of the home-exposure period (P = 0.04). Consistent with the findings of Sullivan and Birch (6) that infants require 8–10 exposures to a novel food to facilitate later acceptance, we found that those infants who were repeatedly exposed to potatoes (potato group) ate significantly more potatoes after 9 d of exposure (paired t15df = 2.1, P = 0.05), whereas there was no significant difference in potato acceptance in those infants in the variety group, who had only 3 d of exposure to potatoes (on days 2, 5, and 8 of the home-exposure period). In addition, the variety group preferred peas and squash to potatoes (P = 0.001).

That the mothers' perception of their infants' enjoyment varied with the type of food offered during the exposure period was evident by the significant group-by-day interactions (P < 0.0001) and group differences (P < 0.0001). The mothers of the potato group reported that their infants enjoyed the home-exposure food (ie, potatoes) less than did the carrot (unpaired t28df = 6.87, P = 0.05) and variety (unpaired t27df = 3.89, P = 0.001) groups, whereas the mothers of the carrot group reported that their infants enjoyed carrots more than did the variety group, who were fed peas, potatoes, and squash in addition to carrots (unpaired t25df = -3.42, P < 0.005). The mothers of the variety group indicated that their infants enjoyed the potatoes (rating: 3.8 ± 0.3) less than either the squash (1.5 ± 0.1; paired t12df = 5.67, P < 0.001) or the peas (2.2 ± 0.2; paired t14df = 4.51, P < 0.001). In addition, these mothers reported that their infants enjoyed the squash more than the peas (paired t12df = -3.50, P < 0.005).

Relation between experience with fruit and initial acceptance of carrots
Exposure to fruit did not hinder the infants' acceptance of carrots during their first feeding experience with this vegetable (day 1). There were significant effects of the frequency of fruit consumption (ie, daily, occasionally, or not at all) on carrot intake (P = 0.04). As seen in Figure 4Go, those infants who ate fruit daily (n = 16) consumed more carrots than did the infants who ate fruit occasionally (n = 8; unpaired t22df = 1.65, P = 0.05) or not at all (n = 24; unpaired t38df = 2.35, P = 0.007). However, after Bonferroni correction, only the difference between the group who ate fruit daily and the group who ate no fruit was significant.



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  		FIGURE 4. . The mean (± SEM) amount of puréed carrots consumed during the infants' first exposure to carrots (day 1 at the Monell Center) as a function of their previous exposure to fruit and fruit juices. *Significant differences among groups, P < 0.05 (ANOVA). **Significantly different from "not at all," P < 0.007. n = 24.

 
Questionnaires on mothers' eating and variety-seeking behaviors
There were no significant differences among the 3 infant groups in the mothers' frequency of consuming carrots, peas, squash, potatoes, or chicken since the infants' birth. Nor was there a significant difference in the mother's frequency of consumption of the test foods (carrots and chicken) during the experimental period or their variety-seeking tendency with respect to foods.


   DISCUSSION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
The present findings provide the first experimental evidence to support the hypothesis that exposure to flavor variety facilitates infants' subsequent acceptance of novel foods. Infants who were fed a variety of vegetables that differed in taste, smell, and texture ingested more of not only the novel food, chicken, but also of carrots in a manner similar to that of infants who were fed carrots repeatedly. In contrast, infants fed potatoes exclusively showed no such increase in carrot intake, although their acceptance of the potatoes increased as the home feedings progressed. The minimum number of exposures required to enhance acceptance appears to be more than one because infants who were exposed only to potatoes (and thus had only a single exposure to carrots on the first testing day) showed no increase in carrot acceptance. Because there were no significant differences among the 3 groups of infants relative to their mothers' frequency of consuming the test foods or their variety-seeking scores, the differences observed in the infants' acceptance of the novel foods did not appear to be due to the mothers' eating habits or attitudes toward foods.

Three hypotheses could account for these findings. First, infants fed a variety of foods may have increased their intake of carrots because they could not discriminate among the vegetables (17). That is, perhaps peas, potatoes, and squash share similar flavors with the carrots. However, the finding that the infants who were fed potatoes only did not increase their intake of carrots suggests that the infants indeed differentiated between carrots and potatoes. Moreover, the marked day-to-day fluctuations in both intake and the mothers' perceptions of their infants' enjoyment of the foods suggest that the infants fed a variety of vegetables clearly discriminated among the vegetables (Figure 3Go). Such findings are consistent with those of previous studies that showed that infants prefer certain types of vegetables (6, 18).

Second, infants fed a variety of foods may have increased their intake of carrots after the home-exposure period because they were eating more food overall than were the infants fed potatoes exclusively. In other words, the variety effect may be secondary to increased consumption of the more preferred foods. However, this increased intake does not explain why the infants fed a variety of vegetables (variety group) consumed significantly more of the novel food, chicken, than did infants who were fed carrots only (carrot group) during the exposure period. Recall that there was no significant difference in the overall intake during the home-exposure period between these 2 groups of infants.

Third, early experience with a diversity of flavors may have led to an increased readiness to accept unfamiliar flavors. This finding is supported by a study that showed that infants who experienced a variety of differently textured applesauces (eg, puréed, lumpy, and diced) preferred greater texture complexity (19). Moreover, animal model studies suggest that there is a "transfer of diversity" whereby exposure to a variety of foods during early development prepares young animals for diversity later in life (9, 11). For example, weanling rats exposed to a variety of different flavored waters for 12 d were more likely to accept a novel flavor than were rats exposed to a single flavor only (9). Similarly, when the nutritional content of the diet was held constant, lambs preferred to forage in locations that offered a variety of flavors (20). Of interest is the finding that mothers who claimed they exposed their children to greater dietary diversity early in life were less likely to perceive their 2- to 7-y-old children as having feeding problems or being neophobic (21).

In the present study, mothers chose to introduce solid foods to their infants' diets when the infants were aged 3.3–6.5 mo, but in other cultures and among breast-feeding infants, the timing of this process can be quite variable and prolonged. Whether similar effects would be observed in older infants and how long these effects would last in the absence of continued exposure to variety are unknown. However, we suggest that the present findings support previous findings that breast-fed infants consume more of a novel vegetable than do formula-fed infants (6). Because a variety of flavors consumed by mothers are transmitted to human milk (22), the sensory world of breast-fed infants is very rich, varied, and quite different from that of formula-fed infants. Formula-fed infants experience a constant set of flavors from standard formulas and thus may miss significant sensory experiences that, until recent times in human history, were common to all infants.

The present study also showed that infants who were exposed to fruit daily consumed more carrots than did infants with no exposure. Because we did not randomly assign infants to groups (the mothers decided when and how much they would feed fruit to their infants), this was not a strictly experimental study. Nonetheless, the infant groups appeared to be matched on the basis of age, weight, and prior experience with cereal consumption. How experience with different types of foods and flavors affects acceptance of other solid foods remains an important area for future research.

Research has shown that a greater diversity of social stimulation during early infancy is associated with higher scores on measures of cognitive development in domains such as language, reading, and mathematics (23, 24). The present findings suggest that the beneficial effects of varied food experiences during early development are not limited to cognitive functioning and provide experimental evidence supporting the claim that experience with a diversity of flavors sets the pattern for a diversified diet (3). Because flavor variety is often related to a greater variety in the nutritive content of foods (25, 26), a preference for varied flavors should ultimately increase the range of nutrients consumed and thus increase the likelihood that a well-balanced diet is consumed. In other words, the variety effect may reflect an important adaptive mechanism in the regulation of food intake (25). The findings of the present study indicate that exposure to flavor variety during infancy enhances acceptance of some novel foods. Such information may prove valuable to health care providers and parents in developing strategies for introducing beikost to formula-fed infants.


   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
We thank Leslie Stein and Gary Beauchamp for their comments, Regina Tran and Saadia Khan for their expert technical assistance, and Dana Ott and Frances Coletta for their helpful suggestions.


   REFERENCES
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 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 SUBJECTS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 

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Received for publication July 14, 2000. Accepted for publication October 16, 2000.




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Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, S. S. Gidding, B. A. Dennison, L. L. Birch, S. R. Daniels, M. W. Gilman, A. H. Lichtenstein, K. T. Rattay, J. Steinberger, N. Stettler, et al.
Dietary Recommendations for Children and Adolescents: A Guide for Practitioners: Consensus Statement From the American Heart Association
Circulation, September 27, 2005; 112(13): 2061 - 2075.
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S. A. Lederman, S. R. Akabas, B. J. Moore, M. E. Bentley, B. Devaney, M. W. Gillman, M. S. Kramer, J. A. Mennella, A. Ness, and J. Wardle
Summary of the Presentations at the Conference on Preventing Childhood Obesity, December 8, 2003
Pediatrics, October 1, 2004; 114(4/S1): 1146 - 1173.
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D. G. Liem and J. A. Mennella
Heightened Sour Preferences During Childhood
Chem Senses, February 1, 2003; 28(2): 173 - 180.
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