Most picky eating harmless but can signal emotional woes

Picky eating is not just your child’s preference of particular foods, it needs intervention as new research suggests that it is often associated with underlying issues.

A new study has revealed that picky eating in kids may have more to do with their emotional state than their taste buds, in certain cases.

To reach their conclusions about peewee picky eaters, researchers looked at 3,400 children between the ages of 2 and 6 who went to Duke University for routine medical care.

Children with both moderate and, moreover, severely selective eating patterns of behavior displayed symptoms of anxiety, depression and other mental health problems. Dr Zucker, director of the Duke Centre for Eating Disorders in the US, said, “The question is, when is picky eating truly a problem?”

Pediatricians tend to shrug off parents’ fears about children who gag at eggs or shove their broccoli off their plates, saying it is just a phase that most kids will outgrow, the researchers said. The study further found that mothers of moderate selective eaters were more interested in medical help for themselves than the mothers of severe picky eaters. If your child is a picky eater, the researchers suggest you talk to your doctor about treatment options.

“There’s no question that not all children go on to have chronic selective eating in adulthood”, Zucker said. Studies show that except for a minimal margin of respondents, there is no danger or adverse effect to children who are picky.

Of course, picky eating isn’t something that always sticks around. These children were the ones who eat a narrow range of foods.

One limitation of the study is that it relied on parents to accurately report how their children ate and approached food, the researchers acknowledge.

Copeland, however, advised parents not to be too anxious if their kids don’t like to eat their vegetables.

Severe selective eating described in the study is akin to a condition called avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, added in 2013 to the latest edition of a widely used psychiatric manual, the study authors said. “They also had higher levels of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms”. What’s more, moderate picky eaters were also more likely to develop separation anxiety or attention deficit disorder.

For example, to ensure that dinnertime remains a pleasant experience, serve foods that are palatable to the picky eater, and introduce new foods at other times of the day, she recommended.

“These children’s sensitivities to food mean they have a potentially richer, more vivid life experience”. This should be at random meal-times. “I’m hoping this research will make all of us realize that the story is more complicated than we appreciated”, researcher Nancy Zucker told The New York Times.