Abstract
Food neophobia is defined as the reluctance to eat new foods. It has been presented as one of the main obstacles to improving children’s intake of fruits and vegetables. Hence, it is essential to uncover the factors that influence the development or expression of food neophobia in childhood, in order to promote the adoption of healthy eating behaviors early in life. To date, research on neophobia has revealed a large range of factors influencing this disposition: both individual factors (e.g., genetic influences and temperament traits) and environmental factors (e.g., early food experiences and feeding practices). Various strategies can efficiently decrease children’s food neophobia expression, such as taste and visual exposure to new foods. Further studies could systematically evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions, as well as investigate the mechanisms behind positive effects.
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Rioux, C. (2019). Food Neophobia in Childhood. In: Meiselman, H. (eds) Handbook of Eating and Drinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75388-1_159-1
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