Child food neophobia is heritable, associated with less compliant eating, and moderates familial resemblance for BMI.

TLDR: The heritability of food neophobic, the tendency to avoid new foods, was tested in 4‐7‐year‐old twins and whether food neophobia is associated with parent‐child feeding relations or child body fat was examined.

Abstract: Objective: The heritability of food neophobia, the tendency to avoid new foods, was tested in 4-7-yearold twins. We also examined whether food neophobia is associated with parent-child feeding relations or child body fat. Design and Methods: 66 same-sex twin pairs, including 37 monozygotic (MZ) and 29 dizygotic (DZ) pairs were studied. Food neophobia was assessed by parent questionnaire (Child Food Neophobia Scale, CFNS), as were child-feeding practices and ‘‘division of responsibility’’ feeding relations. Child anthropometry and percent body fat were directly measured. Results: MZ and DZ twin pair correlations for food neophobia were r ¼ 0.71 and r ¼� 0.01, respectively: heritability¼ 72%. Greater food neophobia was associated with reduced child eating compliance of prompted foods (P < 0.001) reduced eating compliance of initially refused foods (P < 0.001), and – among girls only – fewer parental food demands (P ¼ 0.01). Interestingly, the correlation between maternal BMI and child BMI z-score was significant only for children high (P ¼ 0.03), but not low (P ¼ 0.55), in food neophobia. Conclusion: Child food neophobia, a highly heritable trait previously linked to emotionality, was associated with less compliant parent–child feeding relations. Strategies to combat food neophobia and foster more harmonious feeding relationships may have a role in obesity prevention.