Evolutionary Explanations:

Question 1

are all food preferences a product of evolution?

Krebs (2009)

Answer 1

not all food preferences are traced back to the pressures of the EEA

a trait that’s beneficial today wouldn’t have evolve from beneficial effects of our ancestors i.e. low cholesterol foods

things that were important to our ancestors (saturated fat) are now harmful to our health so we avoid them to survive and live a healthy life

Question 2

are all food preferences a product of evolution?

Krebs (2009) - mismatch

Answer 2

points out that there is a ‘mismatch’ between evolved preserves (fatty/sweet foods) and modern environments.

he suggests that many global health epidemics that have emerged recently (obesity) are a result of this mismatch

Question 3

support for evolved preferences for sweet foods:

Bell et. al (1973)

Answer 3

children don’t need to be exposed to sweet tastes to develop a preference for them.

Bell et. al: when cultures, such as Iñupiat people, who have no experience of sweet foods, come into contact with cultures that regularly consume these, they never once rejected the sugar foods/drinks

Question 4

support for evolved preferences for sweet foods:

Grill and Norgren (1978)

Answer 4

even newborn infants show an acceptance response the first time tasting something sweet i.e. a slight smile, licking the upper lip etc

these are all innate responses which shows support that the preference for sweet foods is evolutionary from the EEA.

Question 5

support for the heritability of neophobia

Knaapila et al. (2007)

Answer 5

if food neophobia is adaptive then we might expect a strong genetic component for this characteristic

measured food neophobia in 468 female twins and found a heritability estimate for food neophobia at 67%

this shows that two thirds of neophobia is genetically determined

Question 6

Neophobia can also be maladaptive:

Perry et. al (2015)

Answer 6

it poses problems for individuals that restrict their diet to foods with inadequate nutritional quality or lose the potential health advantages of new foods

P: found that neophobia is associated with poorer dietary quality among children

Question 7

Neophobia can also be maladaptive:

Birch et. al (1987)

Answer 7

research has shown that repeated taste exposure without visual and olfactory cues increases the preference for initially unfamiliar foods