“This is not a simple story of indulgent parents or bratty kids”, said lead author Nancy Zucker, director of the center for eating disorders at Duke University. Other factors such as the mother’s psychological health and skirmishes in the environment nearby food showed even more severe cases of selective eating and the unhealthy involvements with certain foodstuff causes anxiety.
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As we have learned from the extensive piece of research, the analysis involved more than 900 children between the ages of two and six, for an average difference of three years.
Rare is the parent who has not lived through a child’s refusal to eat certain foods or insistence on only eating others. The child, for instance, can feel that no one believes him and parents may blame themselves for the problem.
Children with more severe forms of selective eating habits exhibit symptoms of conditions that include ADHD, depression and anxiety.
Also, those with highly selective eating habits were more than twice as likely as normal eaters to have a diagnosis of depression. “Many children who are selective/picky from childhood gradually widen the repertoire of food they accept, especially when confronted with social situations where their behavior is frowned upon”, she said.
Meanwhile, the researchers behind the study advise parents to make dinner a pleasant experience and serve foods you know your child will eat. The picky eating may be a marker for emotional problems later on, Copeland said.
“These are not children who don’t like broccoli and won’t touch a tomato”.
Is your child a picky eater? Parental and medical Intervention in children’s eating habits may minimize the chances of long-term health problems, according to The New York Times.
Zucker suggests introducing children to new and exciting foods, and focusing on family at dinnertime, rather than food.
Zucker summed up the problem when she noted, “There’s no question that not all children go on to have chronic selective eating in adulthood”. This is due to their suffering from depression and anxiety. These are the attributes of the constantly unsatisfied people, who are more likely to turn their lack of satisfaction into depression, which is another definition for unsatisfied expectations. However, the researchers did not find any increased possibility of psychiatric diagnoses among moderately picky eaters.
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“It is the parent’s job to put healthy food in front of their children and it’s the children’s job to choose whether to eat it or not”. Both moderately and severely picky eaters were 1.7 times more likely to suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. (Zucker and her colleagues also suggest using the new term in the DSM DSM-V, “avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder”, or ARFID.). Researchers concluded families and doctors need new ways to deal with this problem.
