Prehistoric Physiology Unsuited for Fast Food World

Back when an airy two-bedroom apartment was a particularly spacious cave, people worked hard for their food. Fat, salt and sugar were rarities, ostensibly gorged upon at every infrequent opportunity, and our palates evolved to let us know just how delectable these substances were.

Unfortunately, fat and salt and sugar can be found pretty much anywhere now, and procuring them costs little more than spare change underneath the couch cushions.

If you are a hunter-gatherer, [Fessler] says, "you have to go out and catch that mammal and that's a lot of work. That means we are designed for a world in which you have to expend calories in order to get calories."

Sometimes it must have been really difficult.

"If you have to work hard to get calories and there are times when calories are extremely scarce, then individuals who have a set of preferences that lead them to maximize the correct food intake when food is available will have done better," he said. "They had fat reserves when times were lean that the other folks didn't have. So we are descended from the people who liked the taste of fat. The ones who didn't like the taste of fat didn't make it."

Thus we are evolutionarily predisposed to pig out.

On a side note, it's interesting that the article, which focused entirely on evolutionary psychology, was packaged in genetic terms. Science has generally moved beyond genetic reductionism, but cultural consciousness has yet to catch up.

Can't Stop Eating When You've Had Enough? It's All in Your Genes [ABC News]

Image: R@punseLL