This is just one of those questions I got to thinking idily about on my way to work this morning.
At the time, I was drinking my Starbucks and I thought to myself,
"This isn't sweet, but then I'm enjoying it. Why do I like something that's slightly bitter to taste? I like beer too, but that wouldn't be classed as something drinkable in normal circumstances."
Don't we have those 'bitter' and sour receptors on our tongue from the primitive years when we needed to identify what foods were poisonous or toxic?
2007-09-11 21:12:15 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
It could be an evolutionary adaptation to Malaria and other widespread diseases. Quinine, from the bark of a tree, used as a treatment for malaria, is very bitter. If you could not tolerate it, the chances of survival were lessened. Bitter herbs were also used as medicines, anyone with an propensity to tolerate bitterness would have had better treatment and a higher chance of survival.
Just my thoughts.
.
2007-09-11 21:56:58 · answer #1 · answered by Labsci 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's simply because without the bitterness we can't appreciate the sweetness....
2007-09-11 21:38:46 · answer #2 · answered by Darkgrace 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋