NY Times: Picky Eaters? They Get It From You

An article by Kim Severson from October 10, 2007.

Highlights from the article:

It’s not your cooking, it’s your genes.

Most children eat a wide variety of foods until they are around 2, when they suddenly stop. The phase can last until the child is 4 or 5. It’s an evolutionary response, researchers believe. Toddlers’ taste buds shut down at about the time they start walking, giving them more control over what they eat. “If we just went running out of the cave as little cave babies and stuck anything in our mouths, that would have been potentially very dangerous,” Dr. Cooke said. (I always thought it is an ancient survival instinct, but didn’t have the research to back me up – Nurit.)

Each child has a unique set of likes and dislikes that Ms. Satter believes are genetically determined. The only way children discover what they are is by putting food in their mouths and taking it out over and over again, she said.

“We have to understand that biology is not destiny,” said Patricia Pliner, a social psychology professor at the University of Toronto. “This doesn’t necessarily mean there is nothing we can do about the environment.”... “Unless it becomes a huge issue, it tends to be a little more fleeting than parents think,” said Harriet Worobey, director of the Nutritional Sciences Preschool at Rutgers University. “I know a year can seem like five to parents, but these food jags are normal.”

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