Morality and diet

George Will's column today, "Bon Appetit," his reader-voted best column so far this year, explores the thesis of Stanford University/Hoover Institution fellow Mary Eberstadt that human appetites for food and sex are polar opposites. Intriguing speculation.

The argument runs that a half century ago, people were uptight about sex and casual about their diets while today the reverse is true.

Surely we'll all accept that humans are hard-wired to consume food and enjoy sex, both are essential to our survival as a species. But Will's (and Eberstadt's) thesis that social mores are the driving force in determining the level of indulgence -- the appetite -- may be misplaced. At least for food.

Research published a year ago in Experimental Physiology -- and being studiously ignored by today's dietary morality enforcers -- shows that, at least in the case of "salt appetite," consumption of given dietary intake levels is an unconscious process driven by the brain, not a conscious behavioral choice by consumers.

Theories are stimulating. Data are controlling. That's why human physiology trumps dietary guidelines and why Americans (and others around the world) are eating the same amount of salt today as they did a century ago -- before the food police arrived on the scene to render assistance.