# What causes people to have the urge of a sweet tooth?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-people-to-have-the-urge-of-a-sweet-tooth/605081>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 5, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-people-to-have-the-urge-of-a-sweet-tooth/605081 "2011-12-05T01:29:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![khep24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@khep24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/khep24)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-people-to-have-the-urge-of-a-sweet-tooth/605081/1 "2011-12-05T01:29:07Z")

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Dear Cecil:

What causes people to have the urge of a sweet tooth? I’ve always wondered, why do I have a craving for something sweet and only sweet at a certain time. For me, when I have that unfulfilled sweet tooth, I crave MC Donald’s apple pies or a Twix.

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**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-people-to-have-the-urge-of-a-sweet-tooth/605081/2 "2011-12-05T17:53:19Z")

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For a lot of people, it’s a simple conditioned response. Sweet things taste good, taste is pleasurable. The pleasure reward reinforces the behavior. Combine that with certain events, certain times of day, etc. and it’s like Pavlov ringing his bell for the dogs.

Hunger itself is more complicated, but most people with a sweet tooth aren’t truly hungry.

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**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-people-to-have-the-urge-of-a-sweet-tooth/605081/3 "2011-12-05T19:33:35Z")

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> **[BBC Two - Horizon, 2009-2010, Did Cooking Make Us Human?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r9svk)**
>
> Horizon asks whether eating cooked food prompted changes that helped humanity evolve.

the whole thing is worth watching. very very simply our brains are wired for high calorie foods as it helps in our survival…well it used to help in our survival.