Why do people crave food that are high in fat, sugar, and salt despite the fact that when eaten in large quantities, they cause major health problems?

Question

A. Inferior local optimum

B. The environments in which food preferences have evolved have changed quite dramatically over a short period of time

C. Correlated characters

D. The chemistry of food preferences causes people to eat the foods 

Answer 1

The correct answer is B. For most of human evolution food and scarcity went hand-in-hand, leading to food preferences evolving to find foods high in fat, sugar, and salt preferable. It is only in modern times where abundance of food is the norm. This creates a mismatch between the scarcity environment from where food preferences have evolved and the rapid change to an abundant environment.