--- title: Why Kids Who Eat Junk Food Early Prefer It Later in Life description: Children from lower income families tend to develop poor dietary habits during their first year that stay for the rest of their lives canonical: https://time.com/3550948/lower-income-nutrition/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-31T16:07:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:09:03.346Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Kids Who Eat Junk Food Early Prefer It Later in Life og:description: Early exposure can influence children to prefer those same foods growing up og:url: https://time.com/3550948/lower-income-nutrition/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51948d081a4a7413/698763c25f570fdf56b1306a/junk-food.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Half-eaten pizza , Buffalo wings and sodas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Kids Who Eat Junk Food Early Prefer It Later in Life twitter:description: Early exposure can influence children to prefer those same foods growing up twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51948d081a4a7413/698763c25f570fdf56b1306a/junk-food.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Kids Who Eat Junk Food Early Prefer It Later in Life  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 31, 2014 4:07 PM UTC  Half-eaten pizza , Buffalo wings and sodas Half-eaten pizza , Buffalo wings and sodasJupiterimages/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 31, 2014 4:07 PM UTC Children tend to develop poor dietary habits during their first year that stick with them for the rest of their lives, according to a new [study](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/10/08/peds.2014-1045.abstract), notably those in lower income families. “Dietary patterns are harder to change later if you ignore the first year, a critical period for the development of taste preferences and the establishment of eating habits,” lead author Xiaozhong Wen, an assistant professor at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said in a statement. Parents from lower income brackets and education levels tend to feed their children formula milk rather than breastfeed in a baby’s first six months, the researchers wrote in _Pediatrics_ after looking at the eating patterns of more than 1,500 infants at six and 12 months old. After the breastfeeding period, those same parents often feed their children foods that are higher in sugar and fat — like candy, ice cream and fries. Alternatively, parents with higher income and better education tend to follow dietary guidelines recommended by doctors. These habits have repercussions later in life, the study finds, as early exposure to certain types of food can influence children to prefer those same foods as they grow up. “This is both an opportunity and a challenge,” added Wen. “We have an opportunity to start making dietary changes at the very beginning of life.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3550948/lower-income-nutrition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3550948/lower-income-nutrition/"},"headline":"Why Kids Who Eat Junk Food Early Prefer It Later in Life","datePublished":"2014-10-31T16:07:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:09:03.346Z","description":"Early exposure can influence children to prefer those same foods growing up","url":"https://time.com/3550948/lower-income-nutrition/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","Babies","Income Inequality","FDA","Research","CDC","Pediatrics","health","breastfeeding","infants"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51948d081a4a7413/698763c25f570fdf56b1306a/junk-food.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51948d081a4a7413/698763c25f570fdf56b1306a/junk-food.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Half-eaten pizza , Buffalo wings and sodas","caption":"Half-eaten pizza , Buffalo wings and sodas","creditText":"Jupiterimages/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3550948/lower-income-nutrition/","name":"Why Kids Who Eat Junk Food Early Prefer It Later in Life"}}]}] ```