Yes, I considered this but if there was no physiological/survival pressure
against people with sweet tooths then I wonder why taste sensitivity to
sweetness varies in relation to sweetness in the environment eg my pygmy
example.  I don't know if this is widespread but if so I would tend to think
it was a useful adaptation.  I could easily be wrong though

Cheers

Sean


> Bit of a naive question: We've got metabolic pathways which process sugars
> quicker than other carbohydrates leading to short term effects (`sugar
> rush'), and (by definition :-) ) sweet things taste different from
> non-sweet things. Both of these effects are reasonably pleasant and when
> strictly moderated by a natural scarcity of sugar dense plants -- and
> certainly without the modern `bred for sweetness' fruits -- don't have any
> deleterous effects on the individual. Is there any reason to believe that
> there was a strong evolutionary pressure causing an interest in sweet
> substances as opposed to there being no physiological/survival pressure
> against people with sweet tooths?
>
> ___cheers,_dave_________________________________________________________
> www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~tweed/  |  `It's no good going home to practise
> email:[log in to unmask]  |   a Special Outdoor Song which Has To Be
> work tel:(0117) 954-5250   |   Sung In The Snow' -- Winnie the Pooh
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of EVOLUTIONARY-FITNESS Digest - 19 Feb 2003 to 20 Feb 2003 (#2003-27)
> **************************************************************************

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