Childhood Eating May Impact Adult Food Choices Menu Verywell Fit Nutrition Weight Management Nutrition Facts Nutrition Basics Diets Meal Plans Meal Delivery Services View All News Fitness and Nutrition What to Buy How We Test Products Fitness Gear Nutrition Products Tools Recipe Nutrition Calculator Weight Loss Calorie Goal BMI Calculator Body Fat Percentage Calculator Calories Burned by Activity Daily Calories Burned Pace Calculator About Us Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Search NEWS Fitness and Nutrition News Childhood Eating Experiences May Impact Our Food Choices as Adults By Elizabeth Millard Elizabeth Millard Elizabeth Millard is a freelance journalist specializing in health, wellness, fitness, and nutrition. Learn about our editorial process Updated on March 30, 2021 Fact checked Verywell Fit content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. We rely on the most current and reputable sources, which are cited in the text and listed at the bottom of each article. Content is fact checked after it has been edited and before publication. Learn more. by Daniella Amato Fact checked by Daniella Amato Daniella Amato is a biomedical scientist and fact checker with expertise in pharmaceuticals and clinical research. Learn about our editorial process Print Taiyou Nomachi/DigitalVision/Getty Key Takeaways The impact of what kids eat could follow them into adulthood, a recent study suggests.Children who received guidance on healthy foods tended to be more likely to eat more fruits and vegetables as adults.Identifying variables like these is important, experts note, since it may help address an aspect of childhood obesity. When parents encourage healthy eating choices for their children, that message is likely to stick with them into adulthood, according to a study in Nutrients. Researchers looked at food questionnaires from 443 adults who defined their recollections of childhood meals and snacks into categories, such as: Food as rewardPressure to eatChild-led eatingHealthy eating guidanceMonitored by parents Those who identified food as a reward for good behavior, felt pressured to “clean their plates” or who remembered having ample control over their food choices tended to eat more sweets and salty snacks as an adult. Those who received more guidance, or had parents do most of the choosing were more likely to have higher consumption of fruits and vegetables as an adult. Researchers noted that the best environment seemed to be “healthy eating guidance,” which included modeling food behaviors, eating more whole foods, and including children in meal prep. Study Limitations One limitation of the current study is that it relies on recall of consumption, which can be tricky for proper measurement, and results may be skewed toward nostalgia. For example, you may have strong memories of eating plenty of cake, cookies, and other treats throughout childhood, but it’s possible that those were only for special events and the majority of your eating was centered on healthier foods. “Recall is a confounding variable in many nutritional studies, especially if there are emotional attachments to particular foods,” says Angie Asche, RD, CSSD, owner of Eleat Sports Nutrition and author of Fuel Your Body. “That said, it’s worth looking at what memories or feelings certain foods might bring up for you, because that may be affecting your food choices.” For example, even if you didn’t eat cake as a child except on birthdays, the strength of that association with celebration and attention could increase the chances that you’d eat more cake as an adult. The recent research acknowledges this limitation, which is called “recall bias,” but the researchers note that even with that as a factor, the link between parental feeding practices and future eating behaviors remains robust. Health Effects Teaching children to have a stronger, positive view of healthy foods—and encouraging them to eat that way for a lifetime—could help change the significant increase in childhood obesity, according to public health and epidemiology researcher Erica Kenney, ScD, in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Obesity is like any chronic disease, where prevention is ideal, because once you’re at a point where you’re talking about treatment, you’ll likely to already have numerous health effects,” she says. “In the case of childhood obesity, that’s true at the highest possible level. Once children get to be obese or morbidly obese, it becomes very difficult for the body to let go of that.” The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the prevalence of obesity for children age 2 to 19 is about 18%, which is over 13 million kids and teens in the U.S. The issue is more common among certain populations, particularly Hispanic and Black children. The health effects can be profound. Children who have obesity are more likely to have: High blood pressure High cholesterol Increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes Breathing problems, such as asthma and sleep apnea Joint problems Fatty liver disease Anxiety and depression Lower self-esteem The CDC adds that they are also more likely to become adults with obesity, which comes with more risks, including some types of cancer and heart disease. Healthier habits can make a big difference, Kenney says, but they also need to be part of a larger, coordinated effort that includes federal and state school lunch policies, less junk food marketing, and more resources for families. What This Means For You Identifying the potential roots of your food choices as an adult can help you pivot to healthier eating behaviors. Also, if you’re a parent, you can increase the chances your child will eat more fruits and vegetables by modeling good eating habits, and involving them in meal prep. 4 Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Malachowska, A. Does Examining the Childhood Food Experiences Help to Better Understand Food Choices in Adulthood? Nutrients. 2021 13(3), 983. doi: 10.3390/nu13030983 Childhood obesity facts. Overweight & obesity. CDC. Vucenik I, Stains JP. Obesity and cancer risk: evidence, mechanisms, and recommendations. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2012;1271(1):37-43. Artham SM, Lavie CJ, Milani RV, Ventura HO. Obesity and hypertension, heart failure, and coronary heart disease—risk factor, paradox, and recommendations for weight loss. Ochsner Journal. 2009;9(3):124-132. By Elizabeth Millard Elizabeth Millard is a freelance journalist specializing in health, wellness, fitness, and nutrition. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? Other Helpful Report an Error Submit Related Articles Food Freedom: What It Is and Why It Matters What Are Food Rules (And How To Break Them) How Many Cups of Vegetables Do You Need Per Day? Food Choices Can Affect Mental Well-Being in Children, Study Shows How Energy Density Food Types Can Help With Weight Loss What Is the Anti-Diet Movement? 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