On the Internet, we can often be amused by videos of dogs eating desserts, but it is rare to see cats eating desserts. Could it be that the aloof cats don't bother to eat these human desserts? It turns out that this ground contains very profound scientific truth. Let’s take a look with the editor below to see why the cat doesn’t eat sweet things.
Cats seem to have no favorite sweets
Large The tongues of most mammals have sensory receptors - a protein on the surface of cells that activates the internal operations of the cells and sends a signal to the brain when food enters the mouth. Humans can taste five flavors (there are about six): sour, bitter, salty, umami, and sweet. The sweet taste experiencer is often composed of two pairs of proteins produced by two different genes-Taslr2 and Taslr3.
Whether this is the reason for the diet or not, all cats - lions, tigers and British longhair cats - lack the 247 base pairs that make up the amino acids that make up the Taslr2 gene. . The result is that the correct protein cannot be produced, because the designated gene cannot be formed (only pseudogenes can be formed), so the cat cannot taste sweetness. "They can't taste sweet things like we can," says Joe Brand, a biochemist and deputy director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "They're in trouble. Cats have really bad teeth."
< p>For us humans, the energy source is sugar. So we think sugar is "sweet". When people are tired, they want to eat sweet things because their bodies need to absorb energy. For carnivorous cats, their energy comes from protein. Therefore, cats are sensitive to the sweet taste of protein-rich amino acids. The sweetness of crab meat also comes from the sweetness of amino acids. Because you can't feel the sweetness of sugar, you can't digest your food well. Although cats like to eat whipped cream, they do not react to the sugar, but like the fat in it.So far, cats are the only mammals that lack the sweet taste gene. Even hyenas and mongooses, the direct relatives of cats among carnivores, have this gene. At the same time, cats may also lack other components for enjoying or digesting carbohydrates, such as glucokinase in the liver, a key enzyme that controls carbohydrate metabolism and prevents excess glucose. Otherwise, most major pet food manufacturers use corn or other grains in their products. "This is probably more and more cats"The reason people get diabetes," Brand said, "is that current cat food contains about 20% carbohydrates. The cats were very unaccustomed and couldn't handle it themselves. ”
After reading the above introduction, you must also understand why cats don’t like sweets. So don’t try to make your cat eat sweets next time. After all, they are carnivores. Meat is the food. Justice is what cats love most.
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