The fact that you never see a fat insect could have implications for the current obesity epidemic, reports www.foodnavigator.com quoting scientists.

From studies conducted with caterpillars, Dr Spencer Behmer, an entomologist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, said that one factor behind the dramatic rise in obesity might be that humans have not evolved sufficiently enough to cope with our current high-carbohydrate diet.

"Historically we haven't always had a lot of access to carbohydrates and one of the biggest sources of carbohydrate in our current food is refined sugar," said Dr Behmer, who agreed that lack of exercise was likely to be another factor behind galloping obesity.

"Our bodies tend to convert most of this excess carbohydrate to fat."

Behmer conducted a series of experiments to find out whether caterpillars could adapt to extreme changes in their nutritional environment. The researchers theorised caterpillars and animals in general can evolve metabolically to adjust to extreme nutritional environments.

By manipulating the nutritional environment of the diamondback moth caterpillars, the researchers found the insects evolved different physiological mechanisms related to fat metabolism.

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