Key clinical point: Picky eating at age 4 years appears to be stable over an approximately 4-year period and was associated with lower BMI. The stability of picky eating suggests that interventions to modify picky eating may need to start before preschool.

Major finding: An analysis identified three trajectories of picky eating severity as measured by the Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire Food Fussiness subscale: persistently low (29% of the children), persistently medium (57%), and persistently high (14%). Emotional regulation was higher and emotional lability was lower among children with low levels of picky eating, compared with children with medium and high levels of picky eating.

Study details: A longitudinal cohort study that included 317 mother-child dyads from Head Start programs in Southeastern Michigan between 2009 and 2011.

Disclosures: Ms. Fernandez and coauthors had no relevant financial disclosures. The study was supported by the American Heart Association, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institutes of Health.