"How Picky Eaters are Born — and Made" by sashanyary

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How Picky Eaters are Born— and Made the science behind “but I don’t like it”

by lisa armstrong photographs by steven vote

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Just before his birthday, my son Tarik, who had been planning his party for weeks, announced that he did not want to turn 5. When I asked why, he said emphatically, “I don’t want to be a big boy.” I’d told him that he’d be a big boy when he turned 5 and would have to eat, as he put it, “real food.” I had set a similar deadline when Tarik turned 3, but had abandoned attempts to get him to eat a more varied diet because he would gag on most foods and cry at the mere mention of the word “dinner.” Prompted by my mother and mother-in-law, who believe he is a picky eater because I haven’t been forceful enough, I also spent a weekend depriving him of his preferred foods (at that time, crackers, yogurt, cereal bars, and pita chips). Unperturbed, he lived on soy milk until I relented. I am ashamed to say that though he turned 5 almost a year ago, Tarik still subsists mainly on crunchy snacks and his three favorite frozen foods—dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, spinach nuggets, and baked french fries.

Nearly two-thirds of young children are described as problem eaters, say pediatricians. Some kids reject certain foods, or eating in general, because of sensitivities to taste and texture, which are biological in origin but can be managed somewhat by parents. For others it’s a power and control issue, which usually stems from heightened anxiety around a speciﬁc issue—in this case, eating. “Very often it’s a combination of factors,” says Noelle Cochran, a family psychologist in San Francisco. “The way out of these stalemates depends to a great extent on understanding what’s caused them.” It turns out that Tarik’s extremely limited food preferences may be in his genes. Recent research from University ▲ ▲

College London suggests that food neophobia—the

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picky eater or supertaster? X

Studies show that a quarter of the U.S. population can be classiﬁed as “supertasters,” a term coined in the 1980s by Linda Bartoshuk, Ph.D., then at Yale University.

Supertasters are highly sensitive to a chemical called 6-n-propylthiouracil, or PROP, which is similar to bitter-tasting compounds in vegetables such as spinach and broccoli. Supertasters ﬁnd its taste revolting. Asians, Africans, and South Americans are more likely to be sensitive to PROP, as are children in general. About ▲ ▲

half of all Americans are

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Looking for more ways to combat picky eating? Go to wondertime.com.

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children have up to 30 percent more taste buds than adults

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fear of new foods—is 78 percent

more, including on the inside of their

our eyes. If a child thinks a food looks

genetic in origin and 22 percent envi-

cheeks. (One recent study showed that

disgusting, he or she isn’t going to

ronmental. Neophobes reject food

girls have more sensitive taste buds

eat it.” This is one of the reasons many

on appearance alone, a trait Tarik

than boys, although they are not pre-

children despise green vegetables.

may have inherited from me: Like

disposed to being pickier.) Our noses

Young children like to categorize

him, I don’t enjoy trying new foods

also have sensors that are stimulated

things, and often do so by color. While

and I avoid certain textures.

when we eat; up to 90 percent of what

red foods, such as apples and cherries,

While nature may play a key role in picky eating, nurture is still a big

we perceive as taste is actually the

tend to be sweet, green foods are often

result of what we smell, as anyone with

bitter. “To little tongues, these foods

factor. What a mother feeds a child

a head cold can attest. “People who

are much more intensely bitter,”

affects his palate even before he’s born:

are sensitive to taste are also sensitive

Utermohlen says. “A child will associate

Research from the Monell Chemical

to smell,” says Utermohlen. In short,

all green foods with that bitter taste

Senses Center in Philadelphia in 2001

a child Tarik’s age is far more sensitive

and have a built-in reason not to like

found that food ﬂavors are transmitted

to food ﬂavors, as well as texture and

any green foods.” Fortunately, they

through amniotic ﬂuid and that pre-

temperature, than an adult, whose

typically outgrow the “color stage”

natal taste exposures seem to predict

taste sensitivity declines as she ages,

by 4 or 5, although their food aver-

later food preferences. In the study,

just like her eyesight. So what may be

sions may linger—as I well know.

pregnant women who drank carrot

tasty to parents truly may not taste

juice had children who liked carrots.

good to their children.

No matter how much broccoli you

In a way, then, age can be a predic-

Tarik’s food aversions seemed to begin at 6 months when I fed him his ﬁrst spoonful of puréed sweet pota-

may eat, however—and I ate lots

tor of pickiness. Most 7-month-olds

toes, which he swiftly rejected. I got

of fruits and vegetables during my

will happily eat a food after only one

him to eat a few fruits and vegetables,

pregnancy—a newborn’s natural

encounter, but getting a toddler to

but when it came time to graduate

preference is for sweet. “Our taste

eat vegetables—or do anything, for

to the food my husband and I were

buds are designed to tell us about the

that matter—is more difﬁcult. “Two is

eating, he simply wasn’t interested

nutritional qualities of the food we

an age when children are increasingly

and would only eat his beloved

eat,” says Virginia Utermohlen, M.D.,

mobile and independent,” says Lucy

crunchies like cereal and crackers.

associate professor in the division of

Cooke, senior research associate in

Desperate for a way to ensure that

nutritional sciences at Cornell Univer-

the department of epidemiology and

he was getting more nutrition, I’d

sity. Babies are wired to prefer the

public health at University College

lace his milk with puréed fruits and

energy-rich sugars and carbohydrates

London. “In our caveman days, chil-

vegetables. That ended one day when

that they need, less so the salts that

dren without a fear of new foods

he was 2½ and I’d had the audacity

(in limited quantities) help keep elec-

might put leaves and berries into their

to slip in some spinach; he tasted

trolytes in balance and the bitter and

mouths with seriously negative conse-

the concoction, unscrewed the top of

sour ﬂavors that may signal toxicity.

quences. Since children’s experience

his sippy cup to look inside, and said,

Sweetness, and indeed all ﬂavors,

with food is limited and they do not

“Mommy, milk isn’t green.”

registers stronger on a child’s tongue

know which foods may be poisonous

than an adult’s. Children have height-

or bad tasting, it makes sense for

let Tarik snack, which of course back-

ened senses of taste and smell, and

them to reject anything that they are

ﬁred at dinnertime. “Constant snack-

those, of course, are the two primary

not certain about.”

ing is something we often see with

ways that ﬂavors are detected by

But more important than smell,

I made another classic mistake: I

picky eaters,” says Peter A. Girolami,

taste buds, survival mechanisms, or

assistant program director of the

10,000 taste buds on their tongues,

what a mother ate during pregnancy

pediatric feeding disorders unit at the

palates, and throats, and young

is the appearance of the food, says

Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.

children have as much as 30 percent

Utermohlen. “We ﬁrst taste food with

“If you’re eating throughout the day,

▲ ▲

people of any age. Adults have about

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supertaster? ▲ ▲

medium tasters who can taste PROP but aren’t

really bothered by it, and a quarter are nontasters,

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I couldn’t assume he’d outgrow his pickiness anytime soon—the number of foods kids like doesn’t change much from ages 2 to 8.

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which means they can’t taste its bitterness at all. Researchers suggest the relevant gene, which produces much denser concentrations of taste buds in supertasters, is an

it only makes sense that you’ll be less

He told me that he doesn’t like when

hungry, and thus less motivated, to eat a

food is “wet,” by which he means mushy.

meal with potentially nonpreferred, yet

I asked Tarik to draw a picture of

healthy, food.”

foods he likes. He was quite excited by

Not surprisingly, food had become a battleground for us. Apparently the

the idea and drew a line down the center

pressure to eat was so paralyzing that

and “no” on the other. Under “yes,”

my son had reacted by refusing foods. I

he drew what I expected—crackers,

couldn’t assume he’d outgrow his picki-

cereal, cookies, french fries, dinosaur

ness anytime soon—the number of foods

nuggets. The ﬁrst things under “no”

kids like doesn’t change much from

were broccoli, bananas, peas, and

disease as a result. Test for

ages 2 to 8—so the key to overcoming it

noodles. When he drew blueberries, I

the gene by chewing treated

seemed to be more about alleviating his

asked if he’d ever tried them. He asked if

ﬁlter paper ($5 for 2 tests,

anxiety than anything else. “Conﬂict at

they had juice, which he likes. I said yes,

supertastertest.com); a

the table will cut a child’s appetite and

and he moved them over to “yes.”

adventurousness,” says Utermohlen. “But

The same happened with oranges—he

if the child is presented with food and

determined that because they were juicy,

sees that everyone is having a good time

he’d like them, which surprised me be-

and is not anxious about what the child

cause he’d never shown interest in either.

evolutionary holdover to prevent us from eating poisonous and toxic foods. Supertasters, who are not necessarily picky eaters, also have a sensitivity to sugar, fat, and salt—and have a lower risk of heart

supertaster will ﬁnd the taste unbearable. ●●

eats, the child will be drawn into eating.” So I went back to psychologist Noelle

A good read

The next day, I ate an orange and commented on how juicy it was. He

Cochran. This time I asked her to help

decided to squeeze an orange so

me end our family’s power struggle over

he could see for himself. He drank the

food. She had me ﬁll out a 76-question

juice, agreed that it was tasty, and

Fussy Freya by

survey to assess Tarik’s temperament. I

went off to ride his scooter.

Katharine Quarmby,

rated his sensitivity, distractibility, and

Since then I’ve been eating oranges

how well he adapts to change. It seems

regularly but Tarik’s shown no further

Grobler (Frances

he is sensitive to texture and tempera-

interest in them, although he doesn’t

Lincoln Children's

ture, compared with other kids his age.

object to their presence. I haven’t sug-

Books, $17). The story

His ability to focus may explain why he

gested that he eat one—the idea is that

of how a smart grand-

outlasted my attempts to get him to

with repeated exposure, he may one

eat new foods, and his slowness to adapt

day decide to do so on his own. We shall

may be why he rejected the spoon

see. He did try a strawberry, though

going into his mouth from the very start.

he didn’t like it.

mother cures Freya’s food fussiness, told in catchy rhymes and fanciful drawings.

wondertime.com March 2009

The key, says Cochran, is for me to

I was encouraged recently when I told

increase Tarik’s involvement with differ-

him I was proud he’d tasted that straw-

ent foods, but not so fast that he feels

berry. He said, “Since it makes you happy,

they’re being forced on him. She sug-

maybe I can just try some things. But

gested that I talk to Tarik about the kinds

I’m going to only taste them,” he added

of foods he likes. We established that

hastily, lest I think the food war was over,

he does like some things that aren’t so

“because remember, I will never eat real

crunchy, such as dinosaur nuggets.

food, even when I’m big, all right?”

●●

illustrations by Piet

of the page, writing “yes” on one side

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an ounce of prevention

that day trying to get him to

researcher Lucy Cooke. “Our

eat it. The attention acts as a

research suggests that a child

Sucking is instinctive and

form of reinforcement and

2 to 5 years old may need as

kicks in before birth. Eating,

can lead to more food refusal.

many as 10 to 15 tries of a tiny

Author photograph provided by Lisa Armstrong

however, is a learned behav-

amount of a food before she

ior. “People think eating is

»Vary the menu. Try to mix

easy,” says Kay Toomey, a

it up, says Toomey. Not letting

Denver pediatric psychologist.

kids get into a food jag—

popcorn and suspects

“But it’s one of the most

eating the same food, prepared

about how certain foods affect

her son inherited her

complex physical tasks humans

the same way, every day—is

him emotionally, to empathize

snacking gene. She

engage in.”

key. “The more problem eaters

and lessen angst about eating.

hopes his vegetable

will accept it.” Lisa Armstrong loves

If your child is older, talk

food jag, the more inﬂexible

gene kicks in soon.

»When offering babies

they become,” Toomey says, so

»Model good eating habits.

food for the first time, allow

don’t let it happen in the ﬁrst

Eat in pleasant surroundings,

them to initiate taking the

place. But if it does . . .

sitting down, with laughter

food into their mouths. Let

and conversation. Family-style

them play with the food and

meals, with each person help-

use their other senses to investi-

If they do food jag, there’s

ing himself, give a child inde-

gate. If a child rejects a food,

still hope. “Don’t give up if a

pendence and take his eating

don’t spend too much time

child rejects a food,” says

habits out of the spotlight.

Keep trying different foods.

March 2009 Wondertime