ICMR-NIN study finds 77% of kids aged 2-7 show reluctance to try new foods | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Nearly 77% of children aged two to seven in a low-income community in Hyderabad showed moderate food neophobia, or reluctance to try unfamiliar foods, according to a study by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN).Published in the Journal of Nutritional Science, the study examined 150 mother-child pairs in Addagutta between Aug and Oct 2025. It found that 11.3% of children had high food neophobia, while 12% had low levels. Boys recorded higher average scores than girls, although the difference was not statistically significant.The study also found an association between mothers’ knowledge, attitudes and feeding practices and children’s willingness to try new foods. Children whose mothers scored moderately in these areas showed lower food neophobia than those whose mothers had low scores.Children with wasting (a form of acute malnutrition) also recorded higher food neophobia scores than those without wasting, suggesting a link between nutritional status and willingness to try different foods.Karthikeyan Ramanujam, who led the study, said early childhood nutrition programmes should encourage caregivers to offer a variety of foods repeatedly, without pressuring children, and foster positive mealtime experiences.ICMR-NIN director Bharati Kulkarni said existing maternal and child health programmes, including the Integrated Child Development Services and POSHAN Abhiyaan, could be leveraged to strengthen feeding counselling.The researchers cautioned that the findings may not be generalisable to children in other communities, as the study was limited to 150 mother-child pairs in a single urban locality.