Some children are sometimes called “picky” eaters, because they only eat certain foods or protest the idea of trying new ones. But is this behavior innate or learned? That’s the question a team of scientists led by researcher Zeynep Nas, from the University of London, asked. According to the results of this studyreported by the Guardianit is genetics that would mainly explain these behaviors.
The research team looked at the eating habits of toddlers through to adolescents. They found that, on average, the propensity to be a “picky” child did not change, or changed very little, between the ages of 16 months and 13 years. However, there was a kind of peak at age 7, often followed by a slight decline.
The researchers then showed that the dominant factor in the propensity to be “picky” was indeed DNA: Genetic variations within the population explained 60% of the differences in behavior toward food in 16-month-old children. A percentage that climbed to 74% or more for children aged 3 to 13.
Other factors influence so-called “picky” behaviors, but to a lesser extent. This is particularly the case with the environment in which children live: researchers indicate, for example, that sitting down to eat as a family and the types of foods consumed by those around them can influence children’s eating behaviors.
The genetics of food preferences
The researchers also looked at data from the English study. «Gemini»in which parents of twins reported their children’s eating habits at ages 16 months, 3 years, 5 years, 7 years and 13 years. Some of these children were monozygotic twins, meaning they share 100% of their DNA. Others were dizygotic twins: they share only 50% of common genes.
By analyzing this data, the researchers realized that the apparent difficulty for children to eat everything was often more similar in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic twins, thus confirming the weight of genetics in the appearance of this type of behavior.
Furthermore, in 2022, Dr. Nicola Pirastu, from the Italian research institute Human Technopolehad led a study on the genetics of food preferences. It suggests that genes that affect taste and smell receptors are less important than brain variations that affect how people respond to different flavors.
“Although flavor is the primary factor determining food choices, genetic differences are more likely to determine how the brain responds to those flavors.”explains Nicola Piratsu. According to him, a better understanding of the genetic mechanisms that influence food choices could pave the way to the creation of more appealing modified healthy foods, or even to the creation of drugs that would modify our preferences.
Source: www.slate.fr
