【Reasons for picky eating】

Food likes and dislikes:

Sweetness is the taste generated by sugars such as sucrose, glucose, fructose, and other sugars when combined with taste receptors, and sugars are also a source of biological energy. The reason why we eat is to maintain the operation of the human body. The human body is composed of cells. If cells cannot function normally, people cannot survive. If cells need to maintain activity, the indispensable part is glucose. If glucose becomes less, cells may even enter a strike state, especially brain nerve cells, which consume the most glucose.

For example, if you go to school without breakfast, you may faint at the meeting before lunch time is about to be consumed. That is to say, the sugar obtained from food plays a very important role in the operation of the human body. Therefore, humans will take sweetness as a clue to ingest sugar-rich foods. I think this is why most humans like sweetness.

Umbrella is the glutamic acid of amino acids, sarcoglycerin of nucleic acids and other substances, and the taste generated when combined with taste receptors. These substances are the protein and DNA required to maintain the human body's operation. Therefore, we can also say that humans like umami flavor is an instinct.

The salty taste is relatively complicated. As long as people are alive and are accompanied by cell activity, they will continue to produce biopotentials. For example, when going to the hospital, the electrocardiogram will be measured. The electrocardiogram is the curve record of the potential transmission activity of heart muscle cells, which is made of minerals intake. Therefore, in principle, humans will like salty taste with minerals. However, excessive mineral intake is also dangerous to cause dehydration symptoms. This is understood by eating salty foods and wanting to drink water. In other words, although humans like salty water with appropriate concentrations, they do not like salty water exceeding a certain concentration. It is also pointed out that humans like salty water with a concentration of 0.5 to 1% (body fluid concentration is about 0.9%). As long as they exceed this concentration, they will feel disliked.

Taste formation during fetal period:

The tastes that babies taste in their mothers seem to have an impact on the formation of strong preferences. Toddlers who take breast milk for longer periods are less likely to eat partially.

New food fear phenomenon:

Humans are omnivorous animals that must consume various nutrients such as meat, vegetables, grains, etc. That being said, if you don’t make any choices at all, you will feel uncomfortable if you eat unsuitable foods. Therefore, most people will avoid foods that you have not experienced, which is originally an instinct for the human body to defend itself. However, the severity of fear of new food varies from person to person. People who are less serious will still try new foods, but the foods that are severe are very limited.

Many people are troubled because children always don’t eat food they have never eaten, but this is actually a human instinct. Although there is not much problem of fear of new food in infants, when children run around, the problem will quickly emerge, especially for children aged 2 to 6. Therefore, when pregnant and breastfeeding, it is very important to let the baby have dietary experience in various foods and make them accustomed to the taste of various foods.

So what should I do to eliminate the fear of new food? Adolescent girls will have the idea of ​​trying to see when they see their friends eating. In addition, as mentioned earlier, smell plays a very important role when distinguishing food. Children who are sensitive to smells have a serious fear of new food. Therefore, if there are foods that children dare not eat, they can try to reduce the smell of food, or make more use of the smells familiar to children.

Taste disgust learning:

The phenomenon of "Taste Aversion" (CTA) is called "Taste Aversion" (CTA). Food aversion learning occurs in humans and most animals. As long as you eat it once, you will stay away from this food to avoid physical harm. This is an instinctive defensive reaction. As for the mechanism of this reaction, it should be related to "classical restrictive learning".

Taste disgust learning has three major characteristics.

The first characteristic is that the food self-intake will cause discomfort even if the interval is as long as 12 hours. Even if the reason for vomiting is not food, it will still automatically trace back the food you have eaten for 12 hours and produce it.

The second characteristic is that as long as you experience a taste aversion learning, which leads to discomfort such as vomiting, diarrhea, etc., the body will remember the taste characteristics of this food.

The third characteristic is physical discomfort, which only connects to the flavor of the food, and will not hate the people who eat together or the place where they eat. In addition, the reason for hating a certain food is limited to physical discomfort, not including severe illness such as allergies or hand and foot paralysis. The so-called physical discomfort here is not just vomiting, but also includes the experience of being forced to hear disgusting words that people vomit in front of themselves, etc., making themselves uncomfortable. The reasons why children hate food are mostly related to learning food, plus the fear of new food mentioned above, can almost explain the causes of all food aversion. Scientists believe that these taste aversions originate from the amygdala of the limbic system of the brain, not the cerebral cortex, so they cannot be changed through discipline, or they will know when they grow up, and it is better to let it go now.

Hunger effect:

After consuming a large amount of food, you will feel that other foods containing the same nutrients are not that delicious. This phenomenon is called the "hunger effect" (Alliesthesia). Eating too many snacks will lead to a hunger effect as a result of not being able to eat a regular meal.
Chapter completed!