How multiple threats to safety affects quality of life for picky eating adults: A new explanatory model

Relation between ARFID symptomatology and picky eating onset and duration

BACKGROUND

Picky eating (PE) is common in early childhood, peaking between ages 1 and 5 years. However, PE may persist beyond this normative period and pose threats to health and psychosocial functioning. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) involves restrictive eating driven by appetite, preference/selectivity, and/or fear of eating, leading to significant medical and/or psychosocial impairment. This retrospective study examined the relation between early childhood PE onset/duration and ARFID eating restrictions and symptoms.

METHOD

Parents of children ages 6-17 (N = 437) completed a survey about their child's eating behavior, including the Nine-item ARFID Screen (NIAS) and questions about PE onset and impacts. Children were then categorized into groups based on PE onset (before or after age 5) and duration: never picky, normative picky, persistent picky, and late-onset picky.

RESULTS

The groups differed (all p < .05) in mean NIAS subscales (picky eating, NIAS-PE; appetite, NIAS-A; fear, NIAS-F) and total scores (NIAS-T). Tukey post-hoc tests found that persistent PEs had significantly higher NIAS-PE, NIAS-A, and NIAS-T scores than never or normative PEs (all p < .05). Chi-Square tests found that persistent PEs were significantly more likely than all other groups to endorse ARFID criteria.

CONCLUSION

Findings from this study suggest that PE that persists beyond or is identified after the normative period is associated with elevated ARFID symptoms compared to normative and never PEs. Persistent PE increases risk of impairment from PE and other ARFID eating restrictions. Given the health and psychosocial risks associated with ARFID, early identification and intervention for this group is warranted.

Heritability of adult picky eating in the Netherlands

Adult picky eating (APE), the rejection of familiar and unfamiliar foods leading to a diet with limited variety, is an understudied phenomenon which can have both physical and psychological negative consequences. The aetiology of individual differences in APE is understudied, although there is reason to believe that it is partly heritable. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the heritability of APE with data from the Netherlands Twin Register (n = 8016) with classical genetic structural equation modelling. In order to use these data, we firstly investigated whether a Food Preference Questionnaire (FPQ) could measure APE with a pre-registered prestudy. Adult participants (n = 414) filled in online questionnaires, including a FPQ and measures related to APE. Spearman's rho correlation quantified the relationship between different elements of the Dutch FPQ and different scores on measures of APE. Results of the prestudy showed that the mean liking score on the FPQ could be used to measure APE (ρ > .50). This measure was then used in the main study to estimate the heritability of APE. Results showed that broad-sense heritability for APE is 49 % (additive genetic effects 14 % (95 % CI [00, 38]) + dominance genetic effects 35 % (95 % CI [11, 52]), while the remaining variance is explained by unique environmental factors. Future studies may focus on uncovering the specific genetic and unique environmental factors that play a role in APE.

Higher meal disengagement and meal presentation are uniquely related to psychological distress and lower quality of life in undergraduate students

Objective: Picky eating, which occurs in emerging adulthood and is associated with psychological distress and quality of life, has historically been conceptualized as unidimensional despite research suggesting it is a multifaceted construct. Participants: An undergraduate sample (N = 509; Mage = 19.96). Methods: A cross-sectional survey assessed picky eating facets (food variety, meal disengagement, meal presentation, and taste aversion), disordered eating, anxiety, depression, stress, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and social phobia symptoms, and quality of life. Results: Meal disengagement was uniquely related to higher anxiety, depression, stress, and social phobia symptoms and lower quality of life, whereas meal presentation was uniquely related to higher anxiety, stress, and OCD symptoms, beyond covariates and disordered eating. Food variety and taste aversion were not uniquely related to outcomes. Conclusions: Considering picky eating multidimensionally may yield important insights beyond the broader construct in terms of its relationship with psychological well-being in undergraduates.

Picky eating is associated with lower life satisfaction and elevated psychological distress and psychosocial impairment in Chinese pregnant women

OBJECTIVE

This study assessed picky eating in pregnant women by exploring whether picky eating is associated with pregnant women's well-being, including life satisfaction, psychological distress, and psychosocial impairment.

METHOD

Data collected were from 345 Chinese pregnant women (M age = 29.95 years, SD = 5.58). Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to examine zero-order correlations between picky eating and well-being variables (i.e., life satisfaction, psychological distress, and psychosocial impairment). Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to examine the unique associations of picky eating with well-being variables, adjusting for demographic and pregnancy-related characteristics and thinness-oriented disordered eating.

RESULTS

Picky eating was significantly and negatively correlated with life satisfaction (r = -.24, p < .001) and positively correlated with psychological distress (r = .37, p < .001) and psychosocial impairment (r = .50, p < .001). When adjusting for covariates and thinness-oriented disordered eating, picky eating was still significantly associated with lower life satisfaction, higher psychological distress, and higher psychosocial impairment.

DISCUSSION

The findings suggest that picky eating may be a significant correlate of pregnant women's poorer well-being. Future research with longitudinal designs is warranted to further examine the temporal associations between picky eating and pregnant women's well-being.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE

Picky eating behaviors are poorly understood in pregnant women. Our results revealed that higher picky eating behaviors were associated with lower life satisfaction and higher psychological distress and psychosocial impairment in Chinese pregnant women. Researchers and clinicians may consider picky eating in the assessment and treatment of mental health and disordered eating in pregnant women.