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03-20-2003, 12:21 PM | #1 |
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Taste
How exactly does taste work? I've never known.
More importantly, though, how did taste evolve? It seems that healthy foods taste bad and unhealthy foods taste good. Why is that? It seems to be a problem for both evolution and creation from an uneducated perspective. For evolution, it would seem that it would be beneficial for healthy things to taste good. For creation, why the hell would God make bad things taste good? That's always been one of my reasons for not believing in God, after all- I'm a picky eater and there just seems to be no good reason why I hate the uber-healthy class of foods known as vegetables. But then I was thinking it didn't much make sense for evolution either, so I'm curious as to how that could have happened. -B |
03-20-2003, 12:29 PM | #2 |
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Disclaimer: This is a completely uneducated opinion from a computer programmer.
Assuming by "bad foods" you mean the sugary, fatty stuff we're told will kill us dead, they're bad for us now because (in First World countries) we can get as much of them as we crave. Since First World lifestyles are overwhemingly sedentary, we end up consuming more calories than we burn, and *bam* here comes obesity. But back on the savannah, sweet and fatty foods were a great source of calories, and a better return on the time and energy required to find them and/or kill them than green leafy stuff. So our ancestors who preferred these foodstuffs (because they liked the taste more) would have a better chance of surviving to reproduce. As always, everyone feel free to clarify and correct. Thanks! |
03-20-2003, 12:44 PM | #3 | |
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Re: Taste
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03-20-2003, 02:05 PM | #4 |
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Ah yes. You guys make perfect sense. I'm still curious as to how taste actually works, though. I suppose I can find that out on my own though.
-B |
03-20-2003, 03:37 PM | #5 |
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There are 4 sections of taste buds on your tongue. Sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.
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03-20-2003, 03:59 PM | #6 | |
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03-20-2003, 06:23 PM | #7 | |
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And BBT - I read somewhere the other day that about 25% of men (my elder son is one) have particularly acute response to bitter tastes, so many vegetables are just too nasty to eat for them - the cabbage family in particular. |
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03-20-2003, 07:06 PM | #8 | ||
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03-20-2003, 07:17 PM | #9 | ||
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edited to add http://www.nature.com/nsu/020218/020218-21.html |
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03-20-2003, 09:30 PM | #10 |
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What is the Nature Publishing Group? (Pardon my ignorance)
Kally |
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