Psychological and Psychosocial Impairment in Preschoolers With Selective Eating.

This recent study has been getting a lot of press.

Zucker N, Copeland W, Franz L, Carpenter K, Keeling L, Angold A, Egger H. Psychological and Psychosocial Impairment in Preschoolers With Selective Eating. Pediatrics. 2015 Aug 3. pii: peds.2014-2386.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that health care providers should intervene at even moderate levels of selective eating. This can be associated with impairment in function and should now be diagnosed as avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, an eating disorder that encapsulates maladaptive food restriction, which is new to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.

Some highlights:

followed more than 900 children between the ages of 2 and 6 for an average of three years.
when eating preferences make it difficult for the child to eat with others, that could be a sign of more serious sensitivities,
20% of the children were picky eaters, meaning they either ate only a restricted number of foods or could not eat with others because of their limited range of food preferences.
Only about 3% fell into the latter category of severe selective eaters. Those children were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression or social anxiety.
Even children in the moderately picky eating group were more likely to show symptoms of depression, social anxiety or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder compared to children who weren’t picky eaters.