Comments on: How the miracle fruit changes sour into sweet

By: Ethan

Ethan — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 02:41:03 +0000

@TiddlyM – I see this is a bit of an old post, but you bring up a good point. For me, the point is not to consume more acidic foods, but to enjoy sweet low calorie foods. For example, you can take a glass of soda water and add a few drops of fresh lemon and lime juice. Eat a miracle fruit and you have a delicious lemon-lime soda that is all natural and nearly zero calories (yes, all of the major soda makers R&D departments have worked with me to can this, but they can’t get past the fact that after drinking the soda, it will modify the flavor of other foods). You can eat strawberries and they taste like they are dipped in sugar. You can make a vegetable platter and drizzle it with lime juice and kids will eat it like a box of chocolates…

Also, this is currently being used by cancer patients to consume foods they normally would not be able to eat during chemotherapy.

As far as evolutionary benefit to animals, I don’t know, but I can tell you all animals seem to LOVE the fruit (from squirrel to birds). If you leave a plant outside here in Florida, the wildlife will quickly eat all the fruit.

By: TiddlyM

TiddlyM — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:07:14 +0000

I am wondering what is the evolutionary benefit – to humans or animals – of using the berry to consume acidic foods that we might not otherwise consume. To the best of my knowledge, our taste buds are there for a reason. We notice the acidity and perhaps consume less of the food (hello, ulcer people). So I’m just wondering, other than the sheer fun of doing it, is there some physiological benefit to the body of making acidic/sour foods taste sweet so that we might consume more of them?

That’s what I’d like to know…

By: Arsinoe

Arsinoe — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 06:18:26 +0000

Wonder how this berry effects the bodies use of insulin?

By: Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:01:29 +0000

“Entails”, please.

By: TK

TK — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:49:16 +0000

Veronica,

Your philosophical question is way overdone. Taking LSD and changing what you experience with your senses does not change reality. There is nothing philosophical about this. Now the evolutionary question this fruit entitles… THAT is interesting.

By: badnicolez

badnicolez — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:14:45 +0000

Like Tim, I think this sounds like a recipe for an ulcer.

By: Veronica Akle

Veronica Akle — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:45:46 +0000

Besides the wonderful biochemical trick of the miracle fruit, I can’t stop thinking about the philosophical question it entitles. Is reality what we experience with our senses, or what exists without an observer. In a few words, just like some drugs, the miracle berry changes reality. Every human should do the exercise of eating the berry before and after eating limes, so that we’d be convinced that every person experiences life differently depending on the context and that doesn’t make it less valid.

By: Arwen from the Chameleon's Tongue

Arwen from the Chameleon's Tongue — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:50:56 +0000

I wonder whether there’s some advantage to the plant in getting its seeds spread by having these proteins in the fruit. Do animals eat it for the same reason people do? It’s interesting that the two proteins have nothing in common too. It’s a nice piece of convergent evolution if there is an advantage to the plant in having a special effect on sweet receptors.

By: Sylvia Als

Sylvia Als — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:20:24 +0000

Yes I have experience the effect of this miracle berry. Sour green mangoes!and limes, just turned very very palatable sweet. We only got 2 berry and for.all.of us to.experience we share it among 6 of is.
What was very interesting observarion was that.the.length.of time each one of us to experince the sweet.taste sensation varies.
The plant is easy to maintain and the seed is easy to propagate. You can grow it in a pot.

By: Srikrishnan Mallipeddi

Srikrishnan Mallipeddi — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:22:31 +0000

Really cool! This is the first that I have heard of a protein that changes conformation after binding to the receptor (due to changes of the environment) and effectively leading to receptor activation. Wonder how long this effect lasts?
Anyhow, one potential use that pops up to my mind is “drug delivery” of some sour/acidic oral drugs.