Constantly craving ice cream, candy, and cookies? You’re not alone. In fact, scientists are poking, prodding, and weighing people with sweet teeth to get to the bottom of what makes them tick.
Sweet Tooth And Evolution
Well before the days of Cinnabon, having a sweet tooth was a great evolutionary advantage. You see, when evaluating whether a plant was nutritious, energy dense, and (most importantly) not poisonous, our cavemen ancestors didn’t have a nutrition facts label to go by. The most accurate indicator at their disposal was their sense of taste.
Sweet foods tend to have a lot more calories than bitter foods. They also tend to have a lower likelihood of being poisonous. From you can see why our modern times tends to have a lot of people who love sweets. While our less genetically fortunate friends were keeling over and dying from eating from a poisonous bush, our ancestors were munching on yummy sweet berries.
Sweet Teeth Today
Even though we have a universal love for sweet tasting things, there is a very wide spectrum of what people consider “sweet”. Scientists have actually been able to identify genes that are responsible for that borderline obsession with sweet foods. Also, sweet foods activate pleasure centers in the brain-making addiction possible in our society of incredible sweet food availability.
The Dangers Of A Sweet Tooth
As any “sweet toothed” person will tell you, a sweet tooth is more of a curse than a blessing. Research shows that those with a higher affinity for the sweet stuff are much more likely to be overweight. Not surprisingly, these people also have mich higher rates of developing cavities.
In other words, a sweet tooth in our modern world is not the most desirable trait to have. The same thing that allowed us to survive in the wild is the same thing that is making us so fat.
Good News/Bad News For The Sweet Tooth
First, the bad news. Most of healthy foods are not sweet. Some bitter foods like tea, olive oil, and vegetables are about as far from sweet as you can get. Other foods like whole grains and beans ,which are are neither sweet or bitter, are also really good for you. In other words, if one were to eat based solely on sweet tastes, they would be missing out on some incredibly healthy foods.
The goods news is that fruit, one of the best foods we can put in our bodies, is very sweet. Full of antioxidants and fiber, fruit can satisfy a sweet tooth and help our bodies.
Sweet Tooth Rehab
Even though you can’t change your sweet tooth genetics, you can make it work for you. When a craving hits, go for a some delicious sliced melon instead of a candy bar. As the old saying goes, when life gives you a lemon-eat it.
Brian Dean MS, RD is a registered dietitian and researcher. After years of research, Brian has set his sights on helping those with lower back pain. He serves on the Medical Nutrition Committee for The American Society for Nutrition and is a professional member of numerous research organizations including the International Association for The Study of Pain, American Chronic Pain Society, and The American Dietetic Association. He recently created a research-based lower back pain treatment program called The Back Pain Diet which is available from his website Stop Lower Back Pain.
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