Food selectivity and pickiness in adulthood: an age and gender-related behaviour?

Abstract

Food pickiness –or selectivity- is a behavior which may lead to a lack of variety and an unbalanced diet. While this trait has been studied in children, pickiness in adults has been more rarely explored and only recently in French elderly1. The first aim of the present work was to identify if pickiness varies according to age and gender in adults. The second aim was to examine the link between the selectivity score and self-reported degree of pickiness. Four hundred French adults from 25 to 75 years old answered an online survey. Respondents were asked to tick each food they dislike among a list of 71 food items. The selectivity score was the number of disliked food items1. Moreover, participants were asked to indicate if they considered themselves as a picky eater on a 5-point scale. Selectivity scores varied from 0 (n=46) to 26 out of a total of 71 food items, with a mean of 4.9 (SD=4.3); 10% of the sample scoring higher than 12. Self-reported pickiness mean was 1.5 (SD=0.8), and 10% scored higher than 3. No gender effect was observed, whether on selectivity score [P=0.47] or on self-reported-pickiness [P=0.23]. The agexgender interaction was not significant (selectivity: [P=0.91]; pickiness: [P=0.54]). There was a significant age effect on pickiness [P=0.003]; participants over 55 years reported themselves as less picky than those under 35 years. However, the age effect was not significant on selectivity [P=.12]. Furthermore, selectivity score increased with self-reported pickiness [P=0.000]. In elderly we previously found that food selectivity was positively correlated with malnutrition risk1. In adults, it would be interesting to look if the diet is less balanced for self-reported picky eaters, and what is the link between the selectivity score and the diet quality