Finicky Toddler (© Photographer: Reno12 | Agency: Dreamstime.com)

Are some of those toddlers you love picky eaters? Well, it seems the fault lies not with the parents, but rather with their genes. A study has concluded that 78% of picky eating is the result of an inheritable trait, not bad cooking or poor parenting.

Researchers at University College London undertook the study. It was led by Dr. Lucy Cooke of the University’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

A New York Times article on the research explains,

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.

If you’d like to read the article in the New York Times go to: Picky Eaters? They Get It From You

If you’d like to see the research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition go to: Genetic and environmental influences on children's food neophobia