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upstart writes:

Humans possess surprising nutritional intelligence:

The international study, led by the University of Bristol (UK), set out to re-examine and test the widely-held view that humans evolved to favour energy dense foods and our diets are balanced simply by eating a variety of different foods. Contrary to this belief, its findings revealed people seem to have "nutritional wisdom," whereby foods are selected in part to meet our need for vitamins and minerals and avoid nutritional deficiencies.

Lead author Jeff Brunstrom, Professor of Experimental Psychology, said: "The results of our studies are hugely significant and rather surprising. 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 paper, published in the journal Appetite, gives renewed weight to bold research carried out in the 1930s by an American paediatrician, Dr Clara Davis, who put a group of 15 babies on a diet which allowed them to "self-select", in other words eat whatever they wanted, from 33 different food items. While no child ate the same combination of foods, they all achieved and maintained a good state of health, which was taken as evidence of "nutritional wisdom."

The study is also notable as it features an unusual collaboration. Professor Brunstrom's co-author is Mark Schatzker, a journalist and author, who is also the writer-in-residence at the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center, affiliated with Yale University. [...]

Professor Brunstrom explained: "I watched Mark give a fascinating talk which challenged the received view among behavioural nutrition scientists that humans only really seek calories in food. He pointed out, for example, that fine wine, rare spices, and wild mushrooms are highly sought after but are a poor source of calories.

[...] Mark Schatzker added: "The research throws up important questions, especially in the modern food environment. For example, does 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 flavour as a guide to the vitamins and minerals they require. If flavour 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 flavourings to them. 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."

Journal Reference:
Jeffrey M. Brunstrom and Mark Schatzker, Micronutrients and food choice: A case of 'nutritional wisdom' in humans?, Appetite, 174, 2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106055

Original Submission