Children, because of their limited exposure to tastes, choose only the foods they like. Adults plead to get these kids to try out new dishes, all in an effort to make sure children eat a well-balanced, highly-nutritious meal. Pickiness when eating is said to leave a child’s system as soon as his taste buds become accustomed to various, more complicated flavors. But what about an adult who still wants to eat like a kid, favoring chocolates, peanut butter and grilled cheese sandwiches, every meal of the day, every day of the week?
Researchers have therefore coined a term to describe excessively pickiness in foods: Selective eating disorder. Unlike other adults who have a short list of things they don’t enjoy eating, people who have selective eating disorder have an even shorter list of things they can eat.
It’s not a matter of attitude, or even attention-seeking. According to Duke University’s Nancy Zucker, people with SED aren’t trying to be stubborn. They themselves know the trouble they are into, and often come in to seek help because their pickiness has begun eating its way into their daily lives, relationships, jobs, and social lives. They were especially worried that they were setting a bad example for kids who were supposed to learn healthy eating habits from them.
To determine just how many people were like this, Zucker created an online registry, in which more than 7,500 individuals admitted to having the symptoms.
There is no clear cause behind this disorder yet, so one cannot point to whether it’s a physical or psychological concern. One thing is common among many adult picky eaters: They all prefer bland but processed foods. They like salt, so French fries are a favorite among them, and so is bacon. Vegetables and fruits seem to be shunned, but a few do like raw carrots or beer.
When asked about how they felt about other foods, some responded that they just don’t look and smell like food. Zucker found an association between adult pickiness and negative experiences related to food early in life. Frequent colics, gastrointestinal infections, gastric refluxes and other conditions experienced as a baby seem to have affected their liking for food. Or, it may be learned from the dining table itself, as a child.
Zucker suggests that in order to prevent children from becoming picky eaters later in life, parents must never be coercive or forceful, because trauma can later turn into rejection for anything that reminds the child of his or her parents’ forceful behaviors.