Fussy eaters

In another case, that of Adeline Chapman, her food fear is far more severe and can have her running, hand over her mouth, from a house in which fried mushrooms are being cooked. Adeline thinks her severe revulsion of these fungi is akin to a phobia.

She says: 'I would say I hated everything about mushrooms; their shape, their texture to touch, their look and whether they are raw or in the ground. Cooked mushrooms send shivers down my spine and the smell of them frying will have me leaving a house or wretching if I can't get out quick enough. My absolute horror is mushroom soup or risotto, and I am positively frightened of funny looking mushrooms like shitake.'

But while Adeline doesn't have any other real dislikes of other foods, Jane Shipley, 28, admits her food fussiness has been widespread since her younger years, often causing her problems. She explains: 'When I eat with other people and I can't have what they have it can be embarrassing, such as if I'm at a party where everyone is having fish and I am the only person not to touch my plate. It also has often been a real issue when travelling abroad.'

Jane won't eat most seafood, eggs, cheese, kiwi fruit, organ meat, lychees, beetroot, or 'mushrooms that look unusual'. It seems mushrooms are popular on the list of foods to hate. 'When I see mushrooms, even though I know I really like the taste of mushrooms in a sauce or chopped up into small pieces, I find it hard to eat them, and would find it hard to wash and chop them myself,' she adds.

But apart from causing your dinner host a huge hassle over menu-planning, being fussy about certain things you eat might not be a major problem if the rest of your diet is varied, suggests Barbara Powell.

However, if the fussiness or even food phobia is widespread, so limiting the diet considerably, then it may affect health. Powell adds: 'The body can be maladaptive for some time with a restricted diet, but the negative impact of such little variation in the diet may show a number of years down the line.

'Your digestive system needs good nutrients to work, so limiting those will also mean that absorption of the nutrients from the limited foods you eat will be poor.'

So what can you do if you think your fussy diet or food phobia is impacting on your health? Firstly, do check with your GP for a medical assessment, and then the advice Powell gives is to see a qualified nutritional therapist to help make the necessary changes in your diet and potentially work with you on other issues.

Concluding, she says: 'We would normally try introducing different foods and supplements to the diet, but it is essential that this is done under supervision.'