Kids’ Food Fussiness May Be Inherited – Forbes.com
Wardle said food preferences appear to be “as inheritable a physical characteristic as height.”
Unlike nearly every other phobia, neophobia is a normal stage of human development.Scientists theorize that it was originally an evolutionary mechanism designed to protect children from accidentally eating dangerous things – like poisonous berries or mushrooms.
Neophobia typically kicks in at age 2 or 3, when children are newly mobile and capable of disappearing from their parents’ sight within seconds. Being unwilling to eat new things they stumble upon may turn out to be a lifesaver. While most children grow out of the food fussiness by age 5, not all do. For parents of particularly picky eaters, experts encourage them not to cave in when their children throw food tantrums