Attempts to convince a child to eat something they don’t want can be futile, often resulting in tears and hysterics. Many parents are familiar with this experience.
New research from University College London, King’s College London, and the University of Leeds has found that children’s food cravings are “significantly genetic.” Other factors, such as the appearance of the foods available at home and the setting in which they are served, may only be important when the child is very young, CNN reported.
More than 2,000 identical and fraternal twins born in 2007 participated in the study conducted in Great Britain. Parents answered questions about their children’s eating behavior from 16 months to 13 years of age. Most identical twins share 100 percent of their genetic material, while fraternal twins do not, allowing researchers to compare the influence of genetics and environment on the eating habits of the two groups and draw conclusions from that.
The research also showed that demand for specific foods peaks when a child turns 7 years old and decreases slightly as they enter their teenage years.
Scientists have found that environmental factors can also influence a child’s dietary preferences at an early age. This suggests that if a child is fussy about food at that age, early intervention to help them learn to eat a wider variety of foods may reduce their fussiness later on.
