BBC News - Hate fish? Can't eat veg? Doctors study picky eaters (video)

Rice swallowed whole

Ms West, 42, says she began rejecting food as an infant, refusing to breast feed or accept substitutes.

As an adult she only eats fruit, white rice swallowed whole because she doesn't like the texture, French fries, and plain meat.

"Texture is just as important to me as taste, because if something is slimy, like pasta or sea food it sends my senses to the moon," Ms West says.

"Tomatoes look good but I can't get past the squishiness. It's like biting into a big fat maggot."

Eating pasta is like "having a live worm in your mouth", she says.

Research into obesity, food cravings and how people perceive different tastes has raised the possibility that genetics are responsible for picky eaters' finicky tastes.

Professor Beverley Tepper, of Rutgers University in New Jersey, is part of a group researching why people react differently to chemical compounds in food.

She says the ability to detect bitterness is inherited and contributes to people's preferences for some foods rather than others.

"Taste differences are a combination of genetics and personal characteristics, but there are other variables - some of it might be psychological."

Food for thought...

Though my niece isn't as bad as the lady in the video, who is sadly very picky, we do worry about her fussiness which denies her the needed recommended fibre and already causing her stomach problems at a young age.

Froot Loops is NOT FRUIT!