programmed to like sweet, fatty
foods; it is an evolutionary hangover
dating back to our early primate
ancestors. In the past, the desire to eat
high-calorie food would have been critical
for our survival, driving us to seek out
foods that would have provided a lot of
energy, such as ripe fruit, nuts and honey.
They were harder to fi nd, but when
eating these foods we are rewarded
with a hit of the feel-good
neurotransmitter dopamine,
encouraging us to fi nd more. In modern
society these foods are now easy to
come by, and we have managed to
intensify the feel-good rewards by
creating recipes with added sugar and
fat, massively magnifying the pleasure
we get from eating.
No comments:
Post a Comment