angelweave

October 07, 2003

Picky By Evolution, Baby


Of course, this makes me laugh, but the headline says, "Is Fussy Eating an Evolutionary Trait?"

The article goes on to state:

    The refusal by children refusal to eat new foods may not be due to fussiness but an evolutionary trait designed to protect themselves from harm, scientists said on Wednesday.
My mother probably just spat out her diet root beer. The funniest sentence in the whole thing comes at the end of this.

    BABIES WILL put almost anything in their mouths. But as children get older, they become more selective about what they eat, particularly if they have not tried it before.

    Green vegetables and meat can be particularly troublesome.

    But scientists at the charity Cancer Research UK said thousands of years ago toxins in plants could have harmed children, and meat carried a high risk of food poisoning.

    “So it makes sense that humans may have evolved to be highly suspicious of certain food types as youngsters,” said Lucy Cooke, the lead researcher, who reported the findings in the journal Appetite.

    She and her colleagues questioned 564 mothers of young children about their eating habits. The fussiest children liked potatoes, cereal and cakes but avoided vegetables, fruit and meat.
Potatoes. My mother said that when she fed me mashed potatoes as an infant, if I could've spat them out, I would've. I refuse to eat them to this day.

Pure belligerence.

hln

Posted by hln at October 7, 2003 07:07 PM | Health/Fitness/Nutrition | TrackBack
Comments

Heh. Until recently I refused to eat mushrooms. Whenever I was fed mushrooms as a kid, my grandmother or someone would always say "Now don't you go picking and eating mushrooms outside; you never know if they're poisonous."
And all I could think was; "If you never know if a mushroom is poisonous then why are you feeding me mushrooms?!!"
Well, a few years ago I finally ate 'em, and now I love 'em to death..er..like crazy!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at October 7, 2003 07:28 PM

Still hate brussel sprouts...and all seafood. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.

Posted by: Blackfive at October 7, 2003 08:28 PM

Okay - note to self, stop serving brussel sprouts at parties. That's why guests leave before 9.

Okay! Set. Thanks!

hln

Posted by: hln at October 7, 2003 08:54 PM

Well, Lucy, if you had interviewed 565 mothers, your study would have turned sharply to the left! SHE loved her veggies--except peas, broccoli, and cauliflower--craved fruit, and happily munched junior-sized morsels of tender baked chicken and turkey.

And nothing went into HER infant mouth except the blue bottle of toilet bowl cleaner at the grocery store.

Evolutionary trait. Balderdash.

And, Heather, it was water, not diet root beer!

Posted by: mli at October 7, 2003 10:15 PM

Wahoo! I elicited a response from...the MOTHER. :)

hln

Posted by: hln at October 8, 2003 04:47 AM

That's cool! I haven't been outed of the blog closet yet to my friends or family.

Posted by: Blackfive at October 8, 2003 08:52 AM