Wolfson lectures: Avoidant and restrictive eating difficulties in childhood

This lecture will focus on avoidant and restrictive eating difficulties in childhood, a significant yet under-researched area within the field of mental health.

Avoidant and Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) was recently introduced as a diagnostic category for eating difficulties that, unlike other eating disorders, are unrelated to concerns about weight or body image. Little is known about the prevalence, course, or causes of avoidant and restrictive eating patterns.

In this lecture, you will learn about a new large-scale study involving 35,000 children from the population-based Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). The study provides insights into the prevalence and progression of avoidant and restrictive eating and their connections to neurodevelopmental conditions, mental health, and medical conditions.

Additionally, the lecture will address the heritability and genetic factors associated with these eating challenges, highlighting broader implications for prevention and intervention strategies.

About our speaker

Alexandra Havdahl is Professor of Psychology at the University of Oslo and Director of the PsychGen Centre at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. She completed a clinical psychologist degree at the University of Oslo, PhD training in identification and diagnosis of neurodevelopmental conditions at the University of Oslo and Cornell University, and postdoctoral training in genetic epidemiology at the University of Bristol. Her research investigates the emergence and trajectories of neurodevelopmental and mental health traits and conditions across the life course.