According to researchers in England, hesitation to try new foods can be traced to our genes. The idea is that it is a characteristic that developed through the evolutionary process to protect young people from eating things that may be dangerous to their health (e.g. something poisonous). The study also said that food preferences are programmed the same way that other characteristics such as height are.

I think this study is a great example of how easy it is to chalk up everything human to genes. Sure, maybe food preferences have a genetic component and that hesitation to try new foods is an instinct to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, if we go with those ideas 100% we miss a whole world of other factors like the types of foods we were raised with and exposed to, as well as larger cultural influences.

Comments

This post currently has 3 comments. You can read the comments or leave your own thoughts on our new comments page.

Trackbacks

No trackbacks yet to this post.

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 25 Aug 2007
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.