Article on food pickiness

[pegkerr]

I may have pointed to this article before, which describes my life pretty well. The great comfort for me here is the included report of a study that found that food pickiness is mostly genetic:

...For parents who worry that their children will never eat anything but chocolate milk, Gummi vitamins and the occasional grape, a new study offers some relief. Researchers examined the eating habits of 5,390 pairs of twins between 8 and 11 years old and found children’s aversions to trying new foods are mostly inherited.

The message to parents: It’s not your cooking, it’s your genes.

The study, led by Dr. Lucy Cooke of the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London, was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in August. Dr. Cooke and others in the field believe it is the first to use a standard scale to investigate the contribution of genetics and environment to childhood neophobia.

According to the report, 78 percent is genetic and the other 22 percent environmental.

The genetics, I'm pretty sure, are probably Rob's. He was a really picky eater as a kid; I was not. (If you're not registered for the New York Times, you can go to Bug Me Not and get a password there to use to read the article.

Comments

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there's been any studies done on "non-picky" eaters. As a kid I had no trouble with stuff like brocallie (well, except for spelling it...) or liver.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Oh, and there was a three week period just after I turned 30 that I liked blue cheese.

Then I returned to my senses.

[amethistdolphin.livejournal.com]

I read in wonder every time you write about your daughters' picky eating... I was very picky, still am to some extent(though I do try things before saying I don't like them...), but the times that I did get the courage to say 'I don't like this' at home I spent three days staring at the same plate of food. My mom said that if I was really hungry I would eventually eat what was served, and that I should feel lucky I had as much choice as I did.
Ok, my grandmother grew up in second world war italy and I do live in a country where there is a lot of poverty, but sometimes I wish my mom was patient as you are... and as willing to try and find new alternatives...