Fructose is considered harmful, and now we're doing something about it. This reminds me of a genetics article I should have posted last month but didn't: the Scythians didn't like it either.
On the one hand, this may explain how come Scythians (and Cimmerians) although able to conquer Anatolia, and beyond, weren't much able to keep these lands. Other Iranic groups had less trouble. (Hello? Persians?)
The deep steppe couldn't handle the wine, dates, and raisins. The genetics claim the Scythians did better among their Balto-Slavic kin, hence all those Iranic (read: not Baltic) rivers: Don and Dneiper and Danube.
I have one question remaining, given Scythians didn't eat fruit. Whence were they getting their Vitamin C?
