The range and variation of human food selection: Adult picky eating

The literature on children\u27s food habits indicates that many children undergo a period of highly selective eating, referred to as ‘picky eating.’ Because there is concern that this may affect their eating habits throughout life, I was interested in whether this type of behavior is found in adults. There are almost no reports in the literature (psychology, anthropology, sociology, or clinical) about adults who are picky eaters. I addressed this issue through two studies. Study 1 sought to get information about the incidence of a wide range of food habits and attitudes using a questionnaire. Study 1 results indicate that more people than expected reported having a narrow range of accepted foods (19%), excluding people with narrowed food selection due to medical, ethical, or religious reasons. Using the Study 1 sample, I derived a subset of adult picky eaters (PICKY) and non-picky eaters (NONPICKY) who were contacted to participate in Study 2, which delved into the factors affecting adult picky eating in some detail. Participants in Study 2 were interviewed, did sensory (smell/taste) tests, and completed psychological tests. Study 2 results show that picky eaters score higher on scales for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Food Neophobia (but not for General Neophobia), disgust, and depression than do controls. There were some differences in the sensory tests, where the PICKY group rated both sweet and bitter taste solutions as more intense than did the NONPICKY group. In addition, people who were picky/narrow range eaters were not necessarily food-haters or food-avoiders, but rather viewed themselves as being highly selective. These are the first studies to address directly the issue of adult picky eating. It is to be hoped that this disorder of pleasure (Rozin, 1989) will attract further attention in the future. These findings indicate trajectories for further research into picky eating in adults, and towards examining the relationship between these eating patterns, OCD and depression