Fruit Fly's "Sweet Tooth" Short-Lived, University of British Columbia Study

The humble fruit fly may have something to teach us about forgoing empty calories for more nutritional ones – especially when we're hungry. While the flies initially prefer food with a sweet flavour, they quickly learn to opt for less sweet food sources that offer more calories and nutritional value, according to new research by University of British Columbia zoologists. The findings, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, are the first to measure the shift in food preference over time, and the first to find that flies opt for nutritious food more quickly when they're hungry.

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