Taste

The Evolution of Taste: How Early Primates Paved the Way for Our Love of Sugar.

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Skulls of 29 million-year-old primates used in this study Aegyptopithecus on left Parapithecus on right.

A study led by the University of Otago reveals that humans’ preference for sweet flavors traces back to our early primate relatives. This research illuminates the eating behaviors of ancient anthropoids, encompassing extinct monkeys and apes, by examining patterns of tooth chips and cavities.

Published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, the study used fossils from the Fayum Depression in Egypt, an invaluable source for understanding anthropoid evolution spanning from the late Eocene to the early Oligocene period, or 40 to 29 million years ago. Dental chipping patterns in five types of primates were examined and compared with data from living primates.

Methodology and Findings

Lead author Dr Ian Towle, of Otago’s Sir John Walsh Research Institute in the Faculty of Dentistry, says the researchers wanted to find out what made up the diet of early primates – hard or soft foods.

“Close attention was paid to the frequency, severity, and location of dental chips. We were also interested in the presence of dental caries, often linked to the consumption of soft fruits in modern primates,” he says.

View of a fossil quarry in the Fayum Depression in Egypt. Credit: Matt Borths

The group, which included Dr Matthew R. Borths of the Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History at Duke University, and Otago’s Dr. Carolina Loch from the Faculty of Dentistry, found a remarkably low prevalence of tooth chipping with just 21 of the 421 teeth studied showing fractures.

“Our findings indicate a predominant consumption of soft fruits among early anthropoids. The low prevalence of tooth chipping, particularly in comparison to modern anthropoids, hints at a preference for soft food sources, like ripe, sugary fruits,” Dr Towle says.

Evolutionary Insights and Conclusions

The study adds “substantial support” to the hypothesis of limited dietary diversity among early anthropoids, with diversification in monkey and ape diets coming later in their evolutionary history.

“These insights into ancient primate diets provide crucial groundwork for understanding the evolutionary trajectories of our primate ancestors.”

Dr Borths highlights the importance of the Fayum Depression, saying these primates survived “huge climate changes” when the first glaciers formed in Antarctica.

“The Fayum fossil record captures the critical moment when our lineage adapted to this drier, cooler world, apparently fueling themselves with fruit.”

What’s Causing My Loss of Smell and Taste?

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The Smell-Taste Connection

The Smell-Taste Connection

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When your sense of smell goes south, taste usually follows. That’s because the olfactory area in your nose controls both. When you chew food, odor molecules enter the back of your nose. Your taste buds tell you if a food is sweet, sour, bitter, or salty. Your nose figures out the specifics, like if that sweet taste is a grape or an apple. If you plug up your nose, food doesn’t taste the same because you can’t smell it.

Age

Age

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As you age, you lose some of the olfactory nerve fibers in your nose. You have fewer taste buds, and the ones you have left aren’t as sharp, especially over age 60. This often affects your ability to notice salty or sweet tastes first, but don’t add more salt or sugar to your food. That could cause other health issues.

Illness or Infection

Illness or Infection

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Anything that irritates and inflames the inner lining of your nose and makes it feel stuffy, runny, itchy, or drippy can affect your senses of smell and taste. This includes the common cold, sinus infections, allergies, sneezing, congestion, the flu, and COVID-19. In most cases, your senses will return to normal when you feel better. If it’s been a couple of weeks, call your doctor.

Obstructions

Obstructions

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If you can’t get enough air through your nose, your sense of smell suffers. And smell affects taste. Blockages happen if you have nasal polyps. These are noncancerous tumors that grow in the lining of your nose and sinuses. Or you could have a deviated septum that makes one of your nasal passages smaller than the other. Both are treated with nasal sprays, medication, or surgery.

Head Injury

Head Injury

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Your olfactory nerve carries scent information from your nose to your brain. Trauma to the head, neck, or brain can damage that nerve, as well as the lining of your nose, nasal passages, or the parts of your brain that process smell. You may notice it immediately or over time. In some cases, your senses return on their own, especially if the loss was mild to start. You may partly get better and only be able to taste or smell strong flavors and scents.

Certain Medical Conditions

Certain Medical Conditions

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Doctors don’t understand why, but loss of smell can be an early warning sign of dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease. Other medical conditions can damage the nerves that lead to the smell center of your brain, too. These include diabetes, Bell’s palsy, Huntington’s disease, Kleinfelter syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Paget’s disease of bone, and Sjogren’s syndrome. If you can’t taste or smell after a few days, talk to your doctor to rule out other conditions.

Cancer and Treatment

Cancer and Treatment

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Certain kinds of cancer and treatment can change the messages between your nose, mouth, and brain. This includes tumors in your head or neck and radiation to those areas. Chemotherapy or targeted therapy and some medications for side effects can also have an effect. You may have a metallic taste in your mouth or find that certain odors are different or stronger. These issues often go away when your treatment ends.

Medication

Medication

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Some prescription and over-the-counter medications can shift your senses, especially antibiotics and blood pressure medications. They either alter your taste receptors, scramble the messages from your taste buds to your brain, or change your saliva. Talk to your doctor before you stop taking any medication.

Vitamin Deficiencies

Vitamin Deficiencies

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Loss of taste and smell could be your body’s way of telling you you’re low in vitamins. Certain conditions and medications can cause you to be low in vitamins associated with smell and taste, like A, B6, B12, and zinc. It can be a chicken-egg situation, too: If you eat less because you can’t smell or taste anything, your body may not get vitamins it needs.

Smoking, Drugs, and Chemicals

Smoking, Drugs, and Chemicals

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Besides its ability to cause cancer, tobacco smoke can injure or kill the cells that help your brain classify smells and taste. Smoking can also cause your body to make more mucus and lessen your number of taste buds. Cocaine use can have a similar effect on your sensory cells. So can hazardous chemicals like chlorine, paint solvents, and formaldehyde.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis

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After a physical exam, your doctor will check your ability to taste and smell separately. For the smell test, you’ll name a series of scents in small capsules or on scratch-and-sniff labels. A taste test involves strips that you identify as sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or umami, also called savory. Your doctor may look inside your nose with an endoscope (a camera on the end of a flexible tube) or order a CT scan for a better view of your sinuses, nose nerves, and brain. 

Complications

Complications

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When you lose your senses of smell and taste, it affects your life in many ways. This condition is a safety risk since you can’t smell smoke, poison, or gas or taste spoiled food. Use fire alarms, check expiration dates on food, and switch to electric if you have natural gas. Always eat healthy food, even if you can’t taste it.