Comment by preg_match

Not him, but sugar, for most of human history, was in very short supply.

I generally believe that many (most?) self destructive human behaviors are a result of maladaptive evolution. For most of our history, I imagine gorging on sugar was the correct choice. If you find a high sugar food, you should eat as much as possible.

That worked for a long time, until sugar became in high supply. Now, we still have pathways to encourage that gorging, but it’s bad for us.