Novel processing techniques and the use of condiments and spices create variety
and culturally specific cuisines (Armelogos 2010 , 2014 ; Rozin 1982 ). Highly
processed, easily digested, sweet-tasting foods can override neuroendocrine
mechanisms to terminate eating by stimulating regions of the brain that produce
rewarding, pleasurable impulses similar to those involved in cocaine and other
opiate addiction (Kenney 2013 ). It is possible that the consumption of
energy-dense, good-tasting foods overrode the feedback mechanisms of satiation;
that is, the perception of fullness that leads to meal termination and provided
motivation and an adaptive advantage to ‘overeaters’ in food-insecure
paleo-environments (Armelogos 2010 ; Guyenet and Schwartz 2012 ; Kenney
2013 ; Power and Schulkin 2009 ).
In addition to taste (a combination of olfaction and gustation), color vision is
used to access the acceptability of items as food by humans and other primates. For
example, fruit color can indicate ripeness, disease, spoilage, taste, texture and
energy, nutrient, and phytochemical content (Barnes et al. 2013 ; Lieberman 2006 ).
Both observational and experimental evidence repeatedly demonstrate that people
eat more if presented with a colorful array of foods, for example, at a buffet
(Wansink 2010 ; Wansink and Payne 2008 ). In a series of experiments by Wansink
and colleagues, both actual variety and perceived variety based on color or other
attributes increased consumption. People ate 43% more M&M’s candies if there
were 10 compared to 7 colors even though people were aware that all M&M’s taste
the same (Kahn and Wansink 2004 ; Wansink 2010 ).
The Neolithic revolution narrowed dietary breadth with the domestication of
selected plant and animal species serving as the staples, and the contemporary
agricultural industry has further reduced species variety so that now wheat, rice, and
corn account for 60% of calories and 56% of protein derived from plant foods
(Armelogos 2010 ). The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that from
1970 to 2010 the intake of high-fructose corn syrup increased by 8853% and corn
products by 198% in the American diet (Walsh 2014 ). Pollan ( 2006 ) noted that of
the 45,000 food items on the shelves of American supermarkets approximately
11,000 were made from or included corn. Yet, there is abundant variety. Walmart’s
Website ( 2014 ) lists 1359 items under‘cereals for breakfast’which are primarily
comprised of wheat, rice and corn. Furthermore, because corn is gluten-free, the
number of corn products is higher today in response to the recent trend shunning
foods with gluten. The number of gluten-free products increased from 600 to 1600
between 2007 and 2011 (Strom 2014 ; Watson 2012 ) and in 2014 even the iconic
Girl Scout cookies included a gluten-free chocolate chip shortbread cookie.
Armelagos concludes his 2010 article on the evolution of the brain and food
choices by alluding toThe Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger’s non-fictional account
( 1997 ) of a fatal shipwreck that became a popular movie. He writes about the
current rising global‘storm’of obesity as the result of the convergence of evolu-
tionary forces originating in the omnivore’s digestive ability and need for a variety
of high-quality foods; the cultural innovations in food production and processing;
the recent industrialization of a global food system; and multimedia advertising and
marketing of affordable, tasty, high-caloric foods (Wansink 2004a). It is a
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