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There’s somewhere in the ballpark of 1,600 crore human nipples in the world right now. However, only half of these serve a purpose — a pitiable figure, to say the least. If men could breastfeed, not only would that help nourish the offspring — which is a tiring task by itself — but it would probably also take some pressure off women.<br /><br />However, go to the lush rainforests of Malaysia, and a peculiar phenomenon can be observed: the <keyword id="22205583" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dayak-fruit-bat" source="Orion">Dayak fruit bat</keyword>, a rare case where a male mammal nurses its young with its own milk. This intriguing exception begs the question: why don’t more male <keyword id="20114072" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mammals" source="keywords">mammals</keyword>, including humans, take part in breastfeeding? A novel theory developed by mathematicians suggests that it might all come down to <keyword id="22205578" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="germs" source="keywords">germs</keyword>.<br /><h2><keyword id="19900305" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="evolution" source="keywords">Evolution</keyword> is a real buzzkill</h2>For decades, evolutionary biologists have pondered why male mammals generally don't participate in lactation. In the 1970s, a prevailing theory emerged: the uncertainty of paternity. Since male mammals can't always be sure they are the biological fathers, their evolutionary drive to invest heavily in offspring care, including breastfeeding, is diminished.<br /><br />However, this explanation doesn't fully satisfy the curiosity surrounding male lactation, especially when considering species like Azara's owl monkeys. These primates exhibit extraordinary paternal care, with males undertaking 80-90% of childcare duties, yet still, only females nurse.<br /><h2>Nipping it in the bud</h2>While biology might be the go-to science to answer such a question, a group of mathematicians decided to have a crack at it. This birthed an entirely new theory: male mammals refrain from breastfeeding to curb the spread of harmful <keyword id="22205579" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="microbes" source="keywords">microbes</keyword>.<br /><br /><keyword id="29754" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="breast-milk" source="Orion">Breast milk</keyword> is more than just nutrition; it’s a living substance teeming with bacteria, viruses, fungi, and their genetic material. This microbial ecosystem is vital for an infant’s health, aiding in digestion, disease protection, and overall development. However, the transmission of these microbes from both parents could double the chances of spreading harmful microbes.<br /><br />The study’s mathematicians suggest that by restricting lactation to females, mammals effectively use a "microbial sieve," filtering out potentially harmful microbes while retaining beneficial ones. This mechanism prevents the doubling of microbe transmission that would occur if both parents were involved in breastfeeding.<br /><br />This explanation would also explain the bizarre conundrum of Azara's owl monkeys. Despite their heavy childcare roles, males may not have evolved to nurse their young to reduce the likelihood of transmitting harmful microbes, posing a greater risk to the infant’s developing microbiome.<br /><br />"While microbes are not inherently harmful or beneficial; it's their presence and abundance that dictate the overall health of this internal community,” explains study author Brennen Fagan. “A 'wrong actor' at the early point of an animal's life could change the microbiome at a pivotal moment."<br /><br />The findings of this research have been published in <em>Nature Communications</em> and can be accessed <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49559-5">here</a>.<br />

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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gen Zers love customized meals, spicy food, and viral trends like menu hacks and mashups.</li><li>They're changing restaurant menus with their desire for bold flavors, international ingredients, and personalization options.</li></ul><p>Gen Zers have dining habits that set them apart from other generations.</p><p>They love to customize their food, they're suckers for a menu hack, and they crave spicy dishes, restaurant executives and experts say.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/generation-you-are-in-by-birth-year-millennial-gen-x-baby-boomer-2018-3">Gen Z</a>, defined as the cohort of people born between 1997 and 2012, grew up with social media, ride-hailing apps, and Taylor Swift. They're changing fashion, celebrity culture, and the world of work. Here's how they're changing restaurant menus across the US.</p><h2 id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">They're adventurous eaters</h2><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">Gen Zers generally crave big and bold flavors, executives told Business Insider.</p><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">They're accustomed to ingredients and flavor profiles "that generations in the past did not grow up with," Joe Labombardo, vice president of culinary at Chartwells Higher Education, which provides food services at around 320 colleges and universities, told Business Insider. "Profiles, ingredients, and recipes from all over the world are now part of their diets."</p><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">"They definitely have a bold palette," he said. "It's definitely not the blander palettes of yesteryear."</p><div type="image" title="A group of young diners sit at a table full of food and drinks, taking photos of their meals on their phones" height="2840" width="4260" msid="110995043" hostid="261" sizebytes="1267164"></div><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">Younger diners want to try new things and are more likely to be attracted to limited-time offers at restaurants, Lizzy Freier, director of menu research and insights at restaurant analytics company Technomic, said during a panel at the National Restaurant Show in May.</p><h2 id="5627323b-9f37-4431-9def-6e4bace5d379">Menu hacks fly on social media</h2><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">Gen Zers are more inclined to try out menu hacks, creating new dishes using items already available on the menu. These can sometimes go viral on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-tiktok-food-hack-new-fajita-quesadilla-menu-2023-2">social media</a>, where people share new combinations they've discovered.</p><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">Some chains are using these menu hacks to their advantage. Tom Boland, CMO of Bojangles, said during a panel at the National Restaurant Show that he'd noticed a spike in people ordering iced blueberry biscuits with a side of sausage on the weekends, particularly in areas with a high student population. It turned out that college kids were visiting after nights out and putting the sausage inside the biscuit for a sweet-savory snack.</p><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">Bojangles has now added the hack to its menu, served with the icing on top of the sausage rather than the biscuit to make it easier to eat. "This thing is flying off the shelves," Boland said.</p><h2 id="664d8ebd-4104-40c9-9f74-a4e5ec36198d">They love to customize</h2><p>Gen Zers want to feel like they're getting something exclusive. This includes ordering customized dishes. Younger customers, for example, have been known to embrace Starbucks' modifications to craft personalized drinks, while Chipotle, where diners can create their own burritos and bowls, was ranked as teens' third-favorite restaurant chain in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pipersandler.com/sites/default/files/document/TSWT_Spring24_Infographic.pdf">Piper Sandler survey</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Workers help a customer at a Chipotle restaurant on April 01, 2024 in San Rafael, California." height="3868" width="5660" msid="110995047" hostid="261" sizebytes="1267066"></div><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">"Made-to-order, built-to-your-liking foods are almost the staple now," Labombardo said. "That is here to stay and Gen Z and the generation after that both grew up with it."</p><p id="baf6a2eb-70db-4ecb-bf8b-d4e4d208d591">At Caribou Coffee, younger customers — Gen Alpha, Gen Zers, and younger millennials — are most likely to modify their drinks, CMO Erin Newkirk told BI. "It's like what makes you famous on TikTok, if you can unlock the TikTok customization."</p><h2 id="0d2d8a9a-30d3-471d-a0b1-c2f1d86a98b0">Snacks don't have to be unhealthy</h2><p id="0d2d8a9a-30d3-471d-a0b1-c2f1d86a98b0">Gen Zers are less likely to stick to the typical breakfast-lunch-dinner meal pattern.</p><p id="0d2d8a9a-30d3-471d-a0b1-c2f1d86a98b0">"Gen Z is more apt to have more, smaller meals throughout the day versus the standard three square meals," Labombardo said.</p><p id="0d2d8a9a-30d3-471d-a0b1-c2f1d86a98b0">"With Gen Z we don't really see a pattern per se" in dining times, El Pollo Loco CMO Andy Rebhun <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-fast-food-restaurant-dining-habits-generations-money-spicy-2023-4#they-love-to-snack-4">previously told BI</a>. "It's usually: 'When it's most convenient for me.' They will eat whenever they can fit it into their schedule."</p><p id="0d2d8a9a-30d3-471d-a0b1-c2f1d86a98b0">But when they do choose to snack, it's not necessarily on unhealthy food.</p><div type="image" title="A person dips a piece of pita into a bowl of hummus" height="1414" width="2121" msid="110995046" hostid="261" sizebytes="169290"></div><p id="0d2d8a9a-30d3-471d-a0b1-c2f1d86a98b0">While they may opt for cronuts or boba, Gen Zs also graze on a lot of cottage cheese, hummus, or vegetables with spicy ranch, Labombardo said.</p><h2 id="4a74a08b-b522-4adf-bd4f-4fe69b1a790c">They crave spicy food</h2><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-fast-food-restaurants-spicy-change-menu-2023-5">Gen Zers are big fans of spicy food</a>, executives previously told BI.</p><p>Labombardo said that dishes with the North African paste harissa and the Thai jam nam prik pao were becoming increasingly popular.</p><p>"There's a lot more excitement around spicy flavors, but it's not just spice and pure heat," Labombardo said. "It's also recipes that compliment the heat." He said that they were also looking for ways to add a "spicy twist" to classic recipes, like spicy ranch, which he said is "extremely popular."</p><h2 id="22a4dbf6-28b7-4ae9-a5b5-aeea1d0e4f1b">What they're ordering now: Chicken, mashups, and pickled food</h2><p>Popular dishes among college students at the moment include Hawaiian musubi, a sushi-like dish made with spam and rice; shawarma; pickled foods; desserts with sweetened condensed milk, including in boba; and mochi doughnuts, Labombardo said. Flavors like za'atar and yuzu are also trending, he said.</p><p>Meanwhile, bacon pancakes, pickles wrapped in crispy fried cheese, Korean dishes including hot dogs, fried chicken, and chewy rice cakes with spicy sauce, known as tteokbokki, and Chinese tanghulu, a crunchy candied fruit, are flooding people's social-media feeds, Labombardo said.</p><div type="image" title="Tanghulu skewers lined up" height="1414" width="2121" msid="110995248" hostid="261" sizebytes="160002"></div><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-fast-food-restaurants-spicy-change-menu-2023-5">Chicken</a> also appears to be Gen Z's protein of choice. In a 2022 <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://morningconsult.com/2023/02/13/gen-z-loves-to-try-new-foods-and-drinks/"><u>poll by Morning Consult</u></a>, US Gen Z respondents listed chicken as their second-favorite food overall, behind only pizza. Chicken-sandwich brand Chick-fil-A keeps topping <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pipersandler.com/sites/default/files/document/TSWT_Spring24_Infographic.pdf"><u>Piper Sandler's survey</u></a> of teens' restaurants, while chicken-finger chain Raising Cane's has shot to number four in the ranking.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-food-trends-mashups-birria-ramen-spice-swicy-functional-comfort-2024-6#soaring-spice-levels-2">Mashups</a> like Nashville hot chicken bao buns and birria ramen are also popular and can perform well on social media, Labombardo said.</p><h2 id="d914b3de-bfc0-49ae-917f-e0459ec27922">They have high expectations</h2><div type="image" title="Teenagers with food and a video camera at a cafe" height="1414" width="2120" msid="110995247" hostid="261" sizebytes="171312"></div><p>"This generation knows more about food than any generation in the past because of how they grew up," which includes shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and seeing food content on social media, Labombardo told BI.</p><p>"Gen Z is demanding and they're not going to compromise their values for taste or for convenience or anything else," Caribou's Newkirk said.</p>

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