Sensory-specific satiety ensures that we include a variety of food in our diet, with the pleasant-unpleasant matrix that it offers.
Have you ever been so full that you can’t eat another bite? It feels like your stomach might burst, you can feel the food in your stomach, and for a while, everything becomes a bit uncomfortable.
But then, the chocolate cake arrives at the table and suddenly you feel lighter! Somehow, there’s enough room for a delicious dessert.
As strange and delightful as this apparent contradiction is, there is an actual reason why it happens. In fact, a very interesting aspect of our evolution as a species can explain this mysterious moment at the dinner table.
What is Sensory-Specific Satiety?
Imagine coming home after a long day and going to the fridge, excited to eat your favorite food. Now, imagine eating the exact same food the next day too. Sounds good, right? Who wouldn’t want to eat their favorite meal two days in a row? Now, let’s extend that streak to five days, and then ten days… the excitement for that particular food is probably starting to fade.
Would you be able to eat the same food every day? In reality, you would probably get bored of that food, to the point where it might no longer be your favorite.
A person who is clearly not excited about the plate of food in front of them. (Photo Credit: Dragana Djorovic/Shutterstock)
This same concept can be applied to how a regular meal progresses.
After you’ve eaten a significant amount of the food in front of you, you gradually lose interest. Some people might even describe the food as “boring” or “less satisfying” after a while. At this point, despite feeling full, if a different type of food is introduced, the new food sparks your interest and a burst of energy fuels more eating.
This phenomenon, where some types of food become increasingly unappealing while others become more enticing, is called sensory-specific satiety.
Evolution and a Balanced Diet
An image showing a wide range of different foods on a table. (Photo Credit: Olga Klochanko/Shutterstock)
Many authors have different views on the exact purpose of sensory-specific satiety, but a common argument links the phenomenon to evolution. It is argued that during our evolutionary process, the need for different nutrients was recognized, and sensory-specific satiety emerged as a result.
Sensory-specific satiety keeps our interest in a wider variety of foods, ensuring that we always consume different types of food. This is beneficial in two ways.
First, when you consume different types of food, you intake a wide range of nutrients, achieving the goal of a balanced diet. Second, it prevents us from consuming too much of one nutrient type, such as protein or fat, which may be predominantly provided by one type of food.
What About Desserts?
After learning about sensory-specific satiety, you may wonder why it is often discussed in relation to desserts. If this phenomenon encourages variety in all types of food, shouldn’t desserts be equally important?
An image showing a variety of candies and sweet food. (Photo Credit: stockcreations/Shutterstock)
While sensory-specific satiety does include different types of food, the role of sugar is crucial in this context.
As mentioned earlier, sensory-specific satiety works by increasing either pleasantness or unpleasantness. If we eat the same food repeatedly, the increasing unpleasantness encourages us to seek out different tastes, just as the increasing pleasantness of a new food promotes variety.
It is known that consuming sugar triggers the release of dopamine in the brain, which is part of the reward system. This response validates our decisions and motivates us to make the same choices again.
For example, when we eat a cookie, the brain’s reward system not only makes us feel good about eating the cookie due to the release of dopamine, but also increases our desire to eat more cookies!
A person enjoying sweet foods. (Photo Credit: INAMEL/Shutterstock)
This, combined with the concept of sensory-specific satiety, explains why desserts or sweet foods play a significant role in promoting variety. Therefore, dessert is not the only food that falls into the pleasant-unpleasant spectrum, but considering how the body responds to sugar, it becomes an important factor as we tend to “save” space for dessert.
Conclusion
It’s fascinating to realize that even our smallest choices can be traced back to our evolutionary past. This knowledge can help us make better use of sensory-specific satiety and emphasize the importance of a balanced diet.
In today’s world, where many people understand the benefits of a balanced diet, not everyone is able to achieve it. This type of information, along with increasing our understanding of our bodies, provides comfort by acknowledging our evolutionary and historical commitment to a balanced diet.
The relationship between sensory-specific satiety and evolution clearly demonstrates the connection between the past and the present. This information helps us understand our behavior at the dinner table and appreciate the lengthy and fascinating process of evolution that has brought us to this point!