Fussy eating caused by genes not parenting – study

But strategies to help increase the variety of food children eat – including offering a range of foods – can still be helpful, particularly in early childhood, they say.

The work appears in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, external.

Professor Clare Llewellyn, senior author on the study at UCL, told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The reason why some children are quite ‘finicky’ with trying certain sorts of food and others are more adventurous and they happily join in with family meals is largely down to genetic differences between children rather than parenting styles.”

The study’s lead author, Dr Zeynep Nas, said she hoped these findings would “help to alleviate parental blame”, acknowledging that fussiness, while common, could be “a major source of anxiety for parents and caregivers”.

The team studied food survey results completed by parents of 2,400 identical and non-identical twins when their children were 16 months old, three, five, seven and 13 years old.

They focused on the concept of food fussiness – which researchers describe as the tendency to eat a small range of foods, due to selectivity about textures or tastes, or a reluctance to try new foods.

Comparing the food habits of identical twins who share 100% of their genetic material with those of non-identical twins who share around 50% of their genetics, researchers found:

Factors at home – such as what types food are eaten together as a family – were found to be significant, mostly for toddlers.

As children got older, influences outside the home became more relevant, for example, having different friends.