Good Science or Good Excuse?

It's that time of the year again when we are tempted by sweets in every direction we turn. There's candy canes that we "need" for decoration (and you can't just throw out perfectly good food when their decorative usefulness is over, can you?); there's chocolates, like that box of See's Candy that some very thoughtful friend or business associate gives you as a gift (and we all know that it's not polite to refuse a gift, is it?); there's the beautifully designed deserts that our friends and acquaintances slaved hours over in a hot kitchen to celebrate this time of the year (it's rude to not even try their creation, isn't it?).

All these wonderful temptations … who can resist, specially when there are so many potentially hurt feelings associated with each one. As if that isn't enough of an rationale to indulge a bit, science now comes along with the idea that a person's sweet tooth may be in the genes. Several studies lately have identified a gene for a taste bud receptor that the researchers believe detects sweetness.

So, some of us may be genetically wired to be more sensitive to sweet taste than others. So, if emotions aren't enough of a justification to eat sweets, you can now use genetics as an excuse. How can we be blamed when we are wired to like (possibly even love) sweets. I'm sure there needs to be many more tests in this area before it can be proven. After all, science requires that a finding be replicated over and over before it becomes "fact".

I wonder where I can sign up to be a volunteer test subject?