Study: Children may not always grow out of being picky eaters

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/mm-u-scm051920.php

News Release 26-May-2020
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan


If your preschooler often pushes their dinner plate away or wages battles against taking another bite of a vegetable they don't like, they may not grow out of it anytime soon.

By age four, children could be established picky eaters, a new study suggests. And the more parents try to control and restrict children's diets, the more finicky they may become, according to findings published in Pediatrics.

•••••

But there's a silver lining for worried parents - while fussy eaters have a lower body mass index, most are still in the healthy range and not underweight, researchers found. They may also be less likely to be overweight or experience obesity than peers.

"We still want parents to encourage varied diets at young ages, but our study suggests that they can take a less controlling approach," Pesch says. That being said "we need more research to better understand how children's limited food choices impact healthy weight gain and growth long term."

•••••