Fussy eating is mainly influenced by genes and is a stable trait lasting from toddlerhood to early adolescence. Genetic differences in the population accounted for 60% of the variation in food fussiness at 16 months, rising to 74% and over between the ages of three and 13.
https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/national/24597386.picky-eating-largely-genetic-peaks-age-seven-scientists-say/
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Analysis suggests food fussiness starts during toddler years and continues into early adolescence.
The researchers said their findings, published in the Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, show that refusing to eat certain foods is not “just a phase” that children will grow out of.
But they added that taking steps such as having family meals together and offering children a variety of fruit and vegetables, could help, particularly during the toddler stages.
Lead author Dr Zeynep Nas, of University College London’s Behavioural Science & Health, said: “Food fussiness is common among children and can be a major source of anxiety for parents and caregivers, who often blame themselves for this behaviour or are blamed by others.
“We hope our finding that fussy eating is largely innate may help to alleviate parental blame.
[https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.14053](https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.14053)
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Fussy eating, i certainly did not read that wrong
It’s right there in the title: genes accounted for 60% of the variation in food fussiness.
I have a really hard time believing this. So did and do poor kids just starve to death because they don’t like what’s in front of them? Preferences, I understand being influenced by genes. But, fussy eating where kids refuse to eat anything other than Mac and cheese or whatever? I just don’t buy it.
It’s a combo of genes and their downstream products as well as the effects these have on taste & olfactory receptors as well as our exposure and circumstances surrounding the food choices as well as our environment & experiences.
As some already know, we may not like brusselsprouts as a child but over time we may include it.
This would be true for most foods.
Some children love sweets as children but grow out of it as sdults.
They leave out a ton of variables around family habits that develop curious eaters. So while genetics might explain 60 percent in their models, I think unfortunately their models do not account for known social factors and therefore give us unreliable results.
I was a picky eater as a kid, but by college I was willing to try most things I had sworn off as a child. And it turned out I liked many of them. I still have a list of things I won’t eat, some I won’t even try. But I eat more things than people I know who wouldn’t call themselves picky.
Both of my kids were picky as toddlers, but the oldest started trying new things around 8 and at 13 eats things I won’t (eel, shellfish). Youngest is ten and their diet is very limited, to the point that it’s very hard to eat at a restaurant. Unless it’s Indian food.
Working in daycare has shown me that a lot of toddler fussiness is because no human likes to be commanded to do anything. Theres acway to manipulate children that helps them grow and gets them to do what you want. Then consider the kid doesn’t see you eating and they want to do what grown up is doing. Then that just snowballs from there.
Part of neurodiversity as well
I found out later in life that some of the foods I avoided were ones that upset my digestion. Not saying that is the reason I was picky against so many foods but it was a factor in at least a couple.
For me, my taste buds and smell have always been very accurate (I’m the house milk checker for when it has gone bad, I also smell around to find the source of bad smells, etc.). That has always had an impact for sure. Some foods are just too sweet, too bitter, etc.
Or is it that you get to pick your own food in the cantina and restaurant and nobody is forcing food choices on you once your mother is not cooking for you anymore ?
I was a picky eater in that there were certain things that I couldn’t stand to eat. I was still required to eat them. Yuck. In adulthood, I found out that I was allergic to a lot of foods. That absolutely tracks with the way green peppers taste like swamps smell and celery taste like solvents. Funny how when you’re allergic to things you can just be deemed a picky eater. I noticed that in my medical records chart that I am noted as s picky eater and that I avoid fruits and most vegetables. How f***** up is that?! I’m allergic + even the nurse charts me as picky, the same as my parents did.
I think often fussy eating is actually ARFID and so it makes sense it wouldn’t just go away. I will at least try things now as an adult, and my palate has certainly expanded since childhood, but I do have to spit something out if I don’t like it. I can’t physically swallow it and plenty of foods still make me gag.
So I can let go of the mom guilt that has plagued my life from thinking that not standing up to my mother picking up chicken nuggets everyday after she picked my son up from daycare caused his picky eater. (I mean I know it didn’t help him at all and I should have stood up to her but it’s hard when you need someone’s help and you don’t want to be perceived as ungrateful). My son is an adult and this still weighs heavily on my heart and mind!
My sister (now 45) has always struggled with picky eating. We were forced to eat certain foods as kids, so much so that it would trigger gagging and vomiting in both of us. I definitely had my aversions growing up, but got over all of them once I was in my twenties. She never did, and still refuses any chicken products including eggs, has weird texture issues, and if any smell bothers her she just won’t eat. I’ve never understood it, but maybe the upbringing traumatized her somehow.
I wonder how this carries over into adulthood, and if there really is a correlation with neurodiversity. It’s hard for me to accept that it’s not just stubbornness unless there is some sort of mental disorder going on.
When you’re like this as a child being forced to eat is torture. I hated meal times so much. Now as an adult I cook all the time and have a very romantic appreciation for food. I just don’t like to eat by specific times and only eat when I feel like it. A natural intermittent faster if you will.
There are a lot of frustrated parents (ahem, me) who needed to hear this.
My transformation to vegetable eating came when my dad planted a big garden. I was just averse to the canned stuff my mom served before then. Frozen weren’t really a thing yet when I was growing up.
I often wonder how much of it is due to undiagnosed mental health issues like autism, which can cause people to have strong adverse reactions to different sensory input – not just taste, but also things like texture or color.
I never had much of an issue with food growing up, though I don’t care for fibrous vegetables. But I did have a very hard time finding shirts I was comfortable wearing. It drove my parents crazy because I would only wear a few of the shirts they’d buy for me. I eventually figured out that it was all about texture and stiffness. To this day (I’m 42) my closet is full of shirts that are the exact same model made by the same company, but with different prints/colors.
I’ll be sure to send this to my parents and say “see, it’s your fault!”
Are taste buds like not real or something? I never hear them mentioned when an article like this comes out
I’m not picky at all now but I was very picky in childhood.
Turns out my mom was a god awful cook who didn’t know what a salt shaker was.
Confirmed. 36 and still as particular as ever.
I read the first 2 words of the title and thought I missed a new slang word. The internet has ruined me.
I appreciate the authors’ sentiment that they hope their research will help alleviate parental guilt. I was not a fussy eater as a child, and my mother gloated about that for years! I famously ate a hot wing as a toddler and wanted more. I never realized that picky eaters can cause so much internal anguish with parents.
For all that we have learned about genetics, there’s still so much to discover. We’re truly working at the boundaries of human knowledge!
I’d love to see something on adults who were adventurous eaters as children, but became picky eaters in middle adulthood. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked out of a grocery store empty-handed because nothing “looked good.”
As a kid, I was always sick. My mom would always make me eat the things that she made. If I didn’t eat it, I would be punished.
Once I stopped eating her cooking, I stopped being sick all of the time. Food allergies are not imaginary or me being “fussy”.
I’ve wondered how much of being a fussy eater is linked to being a super taster