I’ve been eating a high-fat, carb-restricted diet for almost 20 years, since I started as an experiment when investigating nutrition research for the journal Science. I find it’s easy for me to maintain a healthy weight when I eat this way. But even after two decades, the sensation of being on the edge of a slippery slope is ever-present.

What Taubes may not be aware of is that there is no need to propose a speculative new explanation for why we crave desserts, because researchers have already provided an explanation that’s quite compelling. And it doesn’t involve insulin.