Food Aversion

Many people can experience food aversion towards a specific type of food, and this condition isn’t a problem as long as the person has all the nutrients they need.

Food aversion

Food aversion means that a person can’t stand the look, smell, texture, or taste of a certain type of food, and that makes it inedible for them. Food aversion can occur to foods that a person used to eat and liked or tasted and didn’t like.

Food aversion is an extremely common condition, and it can affect anyone, but it’s most common in children and pregnant women.

Causes of food aversion

There isn’t a clear cause for food aversion, but it’s thought that it occurs due to one of the following factors:

• Hormonal changes during pregnancy, especially the HCG hormone, can cause food aversion or food cravings. The HCG hormone is responsible for the morning sickness as well, and when a woman feels nauseated after eating a certain type of food, this might trigger food aversion towards it.
• Sensory processing, which includes the senses of smell, taste, touch, sight, and feel. This mostly affects children, especially during the phase where they are discovering their senses. Children typically dislike some types of food because it’s related to a previous trauma, it’s new for them, or they didn’t like its texture or how it looks, or they have certain problems like difficulty chewing or swallowing, dental problems, or an undiagnosed allergy.

Symptoms of food aversion

• Symptoms of food aversion are different between people, and they can be mild or severe. They include disliking the type of food and nausea, vomiting, or coughing when smelling or tasting it.
• In some cases, food aversion can lead to malnutrition, dehydration, inability to gain or lose weight, and recurrent headaches.

Diagnosis of food aversion

• Food aversion doesn’t require a diagnosis in most of the cases.

Treatment of food aversion

• During pregnancy, it’s not a problem to avoid foods that cause annoying symptoms as long as the pregnant woman is having all the nutrients she needs.
• If you have food aversion towards foods that are essential for health, try certain strategies, such as hiding them in other foods, changing their texture and taste, exposing yourself to them slowly, and seeking help if needed.
• For children, be a role model for them, try the previous strategies, and don’t punish them for not eating because this can increase the food aversion for them.