Parents are not to blame for “fussy eating”, researchers say, as a large study suggests fussy eating tendencies are mostly down to genetics rather than parenting styles. And the tendency to be fussy over food can persist into early teenage life, the team says, building on their previous work looking at toddlers. The UK study compared the eating habits of identical and non-identical twins from 16 months to 13 years old to tease out how much is due to genetics and how much to the environment.
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The work appears in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Professor Clare Llewellyn, senior author on the study at UCL, told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The reason why some children are quite ‘finicky’ with trying certain sorts of food and others are more adventurous and they happily join in with family meals is largely down to genetic differences between children rather than parenting styles.”
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The study’s lead author, Dr Zeynep Nas, said she hoped these findings would “help to alleviate parental blame”, acknowledging that fussiness, while common, could be “a major source of anxiety for parents and caregivers”.
