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Toddlers do not like vegetables because toddlers taste buds are different.

We were all toddlers once. For most of us, dark green broccoli was to be avoided like the plague and pizza and ice cream was the coveted prize. The reason for this is that toddlers tastebuds sense bitterness more acutely than adults. When as an adult, we bite into a piece of broccoli what we taste is nothing like what a toddler tastes.

The emperical and scientific evidence is overwhelming. Toddlers do not like vegetables, because of tastebuds that make vegetables taste extremely bitter and generally unpalatable. So no matter how much your doctor urges you to force your toddler to eat bitter vegetables, be easy on the kids, because they cannot help the fact that their bodies try to reject the taste of vegetables.

As of now there is absolutely no scientific consensus why nature designed children to crave sweets and dislike bitter vegetables. New research suggests that there people with a certain gene find vegetables more agreeable as children, the TAS2R38 gene. Some theorize that the bitter taste is a genetic warning so children will not eat bitter and poisonous plants.

In conclusion, science has once again confirmed what we already know. Toddlers do not like the taste of vegetables. Personally, I remember the taste of brocolli particularly well as a child, and I remember specifically what it was that I did not like about dark green vegetables.

It was the taste of course. But it wasn't necessarily the bitterness. It was something more particular to dark green vegetables. Almost like an evil miasma that came from the dark green vegetables. I theorize that it might be the high iron content in the dark green vegetables. For example, silver forks still make me want to gag, due to some strange electrical interaction with my body.

In conclusion, as a nutritionist, I have learned that the human body knows what it needs better than science for now, and only when food is designed to fool us with processed sugars and fats, does this break down. So for now I'm going to go out on a huge limb and suggest to eliminate foods from a toddler's diet that make them gag and that they avoid so strongly. There is nothing truly remarkeable about dark green or bitter vegetables. All of the important vitamins and nutrition found in them can be substituted in healthy meats, fruits, berries, and nuts that your child will love. As they grow older, their tastes and palettes will change alone with their bodies, and adding a few vegetables to their diet will be a great deal easier.

Learn more about this author, Jonathan Jones.
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