They say women who follow a healthy diet when they are pregnant and breast feeding give their children a liking for such foods.
In a study by scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Research Institute in Philadelphia, it has been found that flavours from the mother's diet are transmitted through amniotic fluid and mother's milk.
They suggest a baby learns to like a food's taste when the mother eats that food on a regular basis.
They are urging pregnant women to adopt a stealthy but healthy approach to familiarising their unborn offspring to foods such as broccoli, cabbage and sprouts, which they may later reject.
Experiments carried out by the institute, found that where pregnant women were given large quantities of carrot juice or raw fruit such as peaches, after birth their children were keener on carrots and fruit than those of women who had not been given them.
Another trial carried out on new mothers who were breast feeding found that when the women started eating green beans, their children too after a period of time also acquired a taste for them.
Researcher Julie Mennella says babies are born with a dislike for bitter tastes and if mothers want their babies to learn to like vegetables, especially green vegetables, they need to provide them with opportunities to taste such foods.
The findings are supported by a French study which found that the children of mothers who drank aniseed-flavoured fluids, were more likely to accept the taste of aniseed as children and other research found the same effect with garlic.
Dr. Havas says excess sodium greatly increases the chance of developing hypertension, heart disease, and stroke and most Americans consume two to three times the amount of sodium that is healthy and the bulk of that comes from processed and restaurant foods.
He says Americans are often unwittingly consuming large amounts of salt because manufacturers and restaurants add it to food.
Dr. Havas says the U.S. should follow the lead of countries such as Finland and the UK who have taken action on salt with promising results.
He says the FDA must inform the public of the hazards of salt through better labeling and provide increased incentives for the industry to reduce the amount of salt added to food.
The AMA recommends the FDA develops regulatory measures to limit sodium in processed and restaurant foods and works with manufacturers toward a minimum of a 50 percent reduction in the amount of sodium in processed foods, fast food products and restaurant meals over the next decade.