*This article is my own interpretation of a collection of reference books.
Therefore, there is no supporting data or papers, so please read it as a joke.
One of Doraemon's secret gadgets is called "Aji no Motomoto".
Sprinkle it on to make even the most unpalatable dish delicious. It smells delicious.
For a chef, it's a terrifying secret tool, but in the first place, is there a dish (taste and aroma) that all humans find delicious?
actually exists.
It is said to contain two of the following: (1) sugar (sugar) + (2) dashi (amino acid) + (3) fat (oil).
*In terms of scent, it seems that they learn it after birth, and there are no likes or dislikes at birth. However, it seems that the flavor of the food that the mother likes to eat is passed on to the fetus through the amniotic fluid, and it may affect the later eating habits.
(1) As for sugar (carbohydrate), even newborn babies show preference for it. This is easy to use as energy and seems to like it at an instinct level. Satisfaction is obtained by raising the blood sugar level rather than the taste.
In other words, you can't feel satisfied unless your blood sugar level rises. This is why drinking sugar-free carbonated drinks is not satisfying.
(2) Dashi (amino acid) alone is hardly toxic. However, if starch (sugar) or fat (oil) is added to this, palatability will increase at once.
(3)There are few people who drink only fat (oil). In fact, it is not clear why fat (oil) is preferred. In my personal opinion, when a mixture of fat (oil) and flavor gets on your tongue, it spreads. Because it will be juicy.
(*The common theory is that it is high in calories, and in recent years it has been found that there are receptors in the mouth that can detect the presence of fats and oils.)
Looking at experiments with mice, it seems that 1) sugar (sugar) and 3) fat (fat) are addictive when used alone.
We usually use the term “koku” to refer to a mixture of three types of ingredients: (1) sugar (sugar) + (2) dashi (amino acid) + (3) fat (oil).
So in the end what is this
Sugar = Carbs (for energy)
Amino acids ⇒ Proteins (building muscles, bones, skin, etc.)
Fat ⇒ Lipid (producing hormones, cell membranes, etc.)
It is one of the three major nutrients that we learn when we are in elementary school.
In other words, the addictive food was, after all, the nutrients the human body needed.