Dr Michael Kohn reports on some Australian nutrition research on children and food fussiness:

Anecdotal evidence suggests that concern about fussy eating is widespread and that many parents have ongoing 'battles' at meal times.

"Kellogg's® Rice Bubbles® commissioned a nutrition research study via Newspoll to measure the incidence of toddler food rejection, how it affects the family unit and the tactics parents use to encourage children to eat.

The results are truly startling:

• "In all, the study found that 82% of parents and carers felt that food rejection in children was of concern and that 41% are worried about children being fussy about food.
• "In addition, as many as 1 in 4 toddlers were defined as food rejecters, that is, they refused to eat what has been prepared for them at least half the time.
• One in 2 toddlers refuse to try new foods at least half the time.

So if you're the parent of a fussy eater, you are certainly not alone!

See our Fussy Eaters: Research page, for tips on how to handle fussy eaters.