Human Culinary Preferences May Be Guided by 'Nutritional Wisdom', Study Suggests

As the lead author of the new research argues, humans seem to be “more sophisticated in their food choices" and appear to base their decisions on "specific micronutrients" instead of simply "eating everything".

A new international study led by the University of Bristol postulates that people’s preferences in food may actually be affected by what nutrients a person needs.

According to the website Medical Xpress, the researchers established that people exhibit a "nutritional wisdom" of sorts by selecting foods in "part to meet our need for vitamins and minerals and avoid nutritional deficiencies".

"The results of our studies are hugely significant and rather surprising", said Jeff Brunstrom, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Bristol and lead author of the study. "For the first time in almost a century, we've shown humans are more sophisticated in their food choices, and appear to select based on specific micronutrients rather than simply eating everything and getting what they need by default".

The experiments conducted by the team during the course of their study seem to suggest that people tend to "combine meals in a way that increases exposure to micronutrients in their diet", as the media outlet put it.

The study’s co-author, Mark Schatzker, who is a journalist and writer-in-residence at the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center, also remarked that the research raises questions such as whether "our cultural fixation with fad diets, which limit or forbid consumption of certain types of foods, disrupt or disturb this dietary 'intelligence' in ways we do not understand".

"Studies have shown animals use flavor as a guide to the vitamins and minerals they require. If flavor serves a similar role for humans, then we may be imbuing junk foods such as potato chips and fizzy drinks with a false 'sheen' of nutrition by adding flavorings to them", he mused. "In other words, the food industry may be turning our nutritional wisdom against us, making us eat food we would normally avoid and thus contributing to the obesity epidemic".