Children who eat when they are sad or upset have learned the behaviour, and it is possible for parents to help prevent them falling into the habit of "emotional eating", a study suggests.
Researchers from University College London looked at nearly 400 four-year-old British twins involved in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) and found little difference between the rate of emotional eating in identical and non-identical twins, which they said suggests environment has more of an influence than genetics.
Senior lead researcher Dr Clare Llewellyn said the study indicates parents should be advised to think about the strategies they use to help their children when they're upset during the preschool years, as that's when such behaviours start to develop.
"The advice to parents would be, try not to use food to soothe your child. When they're upset, try to use other more positive strategies," she explained.