Tasty foods are bad for you

[1veedo]

Things that aren't very good for you tend to be the best tasting. This makes no sense to me at all. Evolution should have done the oposite: better foods tast better.

 

The more healthy sugars like starch, lipids, polysaccharides, etc should be better then just plain sugar.

[ecoli]

can't think of a good evolutionary reason for this one... but I bet God is a practical joker, or maybe he's testing our ability to "resist evil."

 

edit: interesting aside... if you think about it, a lot of food that "tastes good" (subjective, of course) is synthesized or refined from their normal natural states. Something to think about.

[-Demosthenes-]

Things that taste sweet have a lot of energy in them. We evolved when there were not nearly as many sweet foods as we have now.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

The main reason is that when humans evolved most, we were having famines frequently. If you're designed to eat the foods that are most fattening, and to crave them, then you're more likely to have enough fat to live through the famine.

 

Simple, really.

[Mokele]

Tasty foods *were* good for you. High fat, high-sugar, high protien foods are great...for a nomadic savannah ape. All of these foods contain vital nutrients, and also allow the body to stockpile energy reserves for lean times, which, in the African Savannah, were more common than not. As a result, individuals with the drive to take great advantage of those resources when they were availible prospered more.

 

However, evolution is slow, especially for big animals with long generation times, and the environment has changed drasticly in just a few hundred years. As a result, what was adaptive no longer is. The is the 'novelty' caveat in studying adaptations, namely that a trait may be currently maladaptive due to changes in the environment.

 

Another good example is a tree in Australia with *huge* fruit; we're talking 50 lbs here. It cannot disperse, and it all just rots at the foot of the tree. The key in understanding this is to realize that, just a short time ago, Australia was populated by a variety of very large herbivores who could easily consume such fruit and would then spread the seeds in their dung. It's only become maladaptive since those giant herbivores died out.

 

Mokele

[swansont]

IOW, the trait was adaptive for far, far longer than we've been able to overindulge at McDonalds.

[1veedo]

Ah. It makes sense.

 

Plus the food market would evolve to what we prefere.

[ecoli]

If you think about it, it only took a few years for the development of the refined sugars and other such goodies that we use in many foods. We basically strip away all the nutritive value from our food and make it taste better. Evolution certainly hasn't had time to take care of that problem... but with obesity as the second highest death rate in "ways in which humans kill themselves" (behind smoking" I think that will be coming shortly.

[Bluenoise]

They are good for you!!!!!

 

 

The problem is you're just eating tooo much since they taste so damn good!!!!

And even too much of a good thing can be bad.

 

that basically sums it up.

[john5746]

Ah. It makes sense.

 

Plus the food market would evolve to what we prefere.

 

Yes, that is a very important aspect. Not only has man become less active, but he has also changed his food to his taste and economy. Refined sweets and hydrolyzed oils are very new. The animals we eat have very little Omega 3 and the vegetables we eat have been modified. Add to that freezing or packaging everything and it is a wonder we are healthy at all. No wonder pharmaceuticals are doing great!

 

Look up syndrome-x or insulin resistance and you can see one reason why so many are obese today. Still, many of the problems resulting from this occur later in life, so not sure if evolution would ever take care of it, even with enough time.

[Mayflower]

I'm confused. I find the food that tastes the best to me to also be healthy. Maybe my taste is odd

[the tree]

Or maybe your just further evolved than most.

[ecoli]

or have really unusual taste buds... my mother is like this.

[Aumsonata]

I agree with Mayflower. Fruits and veggies are good!!! Plus, if it is fat that we crave, there are plenty of "good" fats out there: nuts, fish, avocado-to name a few. Sure, sugar in moderation tastes nice, but when I eat too much, I get sick.

 

I guess for some people going to the drive-thru is just more convenient than going to the store and then fixing yourself a nice, balanced meal.

 

My theory is that all the Mickey D's freaks out there are just so addicted that they don't even notice how bad their diet makes them feel. They are used to feeling unhealthy and maybe don't even know what healthy feels like.

 

Also, quick meals go hand and hand with the average American lifestyle. Food is just an after-thought.

 

Sorry if I sound like a tree-hugging hippy here. I know this IS "Science Forums"

[Mokele]

Also, quick meals go hand and hand with the average American lifestyle. Food is just an after-thought.

 

I dunno about the average american, but it is for me. I've got so much to do and get so absorbed in my work that I routinely forget to eat meals altogether, and when I do eat, I purposefully arrange it to take the minimum time possible.

 

But then, grad school does that to people...

 

Mokele