New Delhi: Italian food holds an unfortunate high spot on the unhealthiest cuisines of the world list. Yet, many cannot get enough of the pasta and garlic breads that this cuisine has to offer. This endless love for carbs across its many forms, a study says this comes from genes. Scientists have recently discovered that cavemen and Neanderthals had the same genes that make people crave carbs. The gene, known as AMY1 speeds up digestion of sugar with the help of amylase, an enzyme in saliva.
Experts say that this is why humans fail to resist starchy foods like bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice. These foods high in energy have carbs that help one survive. Around the world, there is an unsaid and unexplained love for starchy, high-carb foods like beans, chips, toast, and potatoes that do give a sudden spike in energy but also result in blood sugar rise that overtime causes weight gain, obesity and may even raise the risk of chronic health problems like diabetes.
Researchers at the University of Buffalo in New York found that the idea is the more amylase genes one has, the more starch one can digest. This helps humans adapt to shifting diets as starch intake has increased dramatically with evolving lifestyles and technology. In this study, experts studied the DNA of 68 human remains from thousands of years to understand why AMY1 became common over time. Researchers noted that this started 800,000 years ago in pre-human Neanderthals. The results of the study are published in Science Journal.
Experts noted that the gene became common in hunters and gatherers 11000 years ago who used to eat wild potatoes. Modern humans eventually moved to farming crops like corn and wheat and this led to the evolution of genes as they ate more vegetables and flour. Additionally, people with high AMY1 copy numbers were more prone to digesting starch easily and having more children. These ultimately fared better over a long period. In the West, people get half their energy from carbs, but when it comes to weight gain, a lot of it comes from excess sugar.
