No matter if you are a chocolate lover or prefer to sweeten your life with a slice of cake, perhaps you are one of the people who cannot resist something sweet. But why is it that so many people become attached to sweets?
You may not be aware of the fact that we love sugar so much mainly because it reminds us of mother's milk. It is sweet to the taste, and all sugar that we take in is turned to glucose, so that our body can utilize it.
That is why all mammals love sweets, even if most of them are truly unhealthy. Another not so well-known fact is that we love sugar because evolution has made it so.
Sweet plants as a whole are safe - i.e. not poisonous. Because of this, our ancestors had a tendency to gather and consume sweet plants.
According to the research of Canadian scientists, our ancestors decided whether a plant was safe primarily based on whether it was sweet to the taste or not.
According to scientists' data, people's love of sugar grew so much that it led to the expansion of plantations in the New World and unfortunately, to the resulting slave trade.
In the beginning, sugar was something like caviar and was offered only to the elite of Europe, but a few years later it was used as a quick energy source for workers in the new industrialized world.
Unlike fruits, sugar is the only sweet substance which has no other taste aside from its main. Coffee, tea and cocoa are quite bitter, but if you add hot water and sugar, you get a relatively inexpensive source of calories and energy.
The stimulating effect was especially important for people who worked long hours in bad conditions, which is why sugar turned into an object of luxury and a symbol of hospitality in Europe.
Even though sugar appears to be addicting, it does not actually cause addiction on its own. But both adults and children have a hard time resisting it.
