[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Glucose is the form of sugar that travels in your bloodstream to fuel the mitochondrial furnaces responsible for your brain power. Glucose is the only fuel normally used by brain cells. Because neurons cannot store glucose, they depend on the bloodstream to deliver a constant supply of this precious fuel.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This blood sugar is obtained from carbohydrates: the starches and sugars you eat in the form of grains and legumes, fruits and vegetables. (The only animal foods containing a significant amount of carbohydrates are dairy products.) [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Too much sugar or refined carbohydrates at one time, however, can actually deprive your brain of glucose – depleting its energy supply and compromising your brain's power to concentrate, remember, and learn. Mental activity requires a lot of energy. [/FONT]
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Carbohydrate Topics:
Brain Energy Demand
Complex vs. Simple Carbohydrates
Brain Power – The Energy of Thought and Memory
Too Much Blood Sugar – Too Little Brain Sugar
Soft Drinks are Hard on Your Brain
Sugar, Diabetes and The Brain
How to Control Blood Sugar Swings
Check the Glycemic Index [/FONT]
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Brain Energy Demand[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Your brain cells need two times more energy than the other cells in your body. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Neurons, the cells that communicate with each other, have a high demand for energy because they're always in a state of metabolic activity. Even during sleep, neurons are still at work repairing and rebuilding their worn out structural components.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]They are manufacturing enzymes and neurotransmitters that must be transported out to the very ends of their– nerve branches, some that can be several inches, or feet, away.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Most demanding of a neuron's energy, however, are the bioelectric signals responsible for communication throughout the nervous system. This nerve transmission consumes one-half of all the brain's energy (nearly 10% of the whole body's energy).[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Neurons from entorhinal cortex (Limbic System)[/FONT]
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©1998 Dr. Norberto Cysne Coimbra M.Sc., Ph.D., Laboratory of Neuroanatomy and Neuropsychobiology, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto of the University of são Paulo; Neuroscience Art Galleries[/FONT]
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Complex vs. Simple Carbohydrates [/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Complex carbohydrates are like time-release capsules of sugar. Simple carbohydrates are more like an injection of sugar. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Complex carbohydrates tend to be in natural foods – and have long chains of sugar molecules that the liver gradually breaks down into the shorter glucose molecules the brain uses for fuel. In natural foods, the cell walls are made of cellulose fiber that resists digestion, slowing the breakdown and the subsequent release of sugars into the bloodstream, kind of like the way a time-release capsule works.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Simple carbohydrates are found in most processed or refined foods and some natural foods. These carbohydrates have short-chained sugar molecules and, because they break apart quickly, enter the bloodstream quickly. Sugary foods--including corn syrup, fruit juices, and honey--contain glucose that is absorbed directly through the stomach wall and rapidly released into the bloodstream, almost as quickly as if delivered by syringe.[/FONT]
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Brain Power – The Energy of Thought and Memory [/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Most of us have discovered that thinking can be tiring, even exhausting. As the primary source of energy in the human brain, glucose can be rapidly used up during mental activity. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Some interesting research has shown that mental concentration actually drains glucose from a key part of the brain associated with memory and learning – underscoring just how crucial this blood sugar is for proper brain function. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Glucose, Learning and Memory - Study[/FONT]</TD><TD> </TD><TD vAlign=top> </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Psychology professor Paul E. Gold has researched the stability of glucose levels in the brain. Working with Ewan C. McNay , they found that as rats went through a maze, concentrations of glucose declined in the animals' hippocampus , a key brain area involved in learning and memory – even more dramatically so in older brains. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Except under conditions of starvation, it was thought that the brain always had an ample supply of glucose. "While this is the case in terms of consciousness, the new findings suggest that glucose is not always present in ample amounts to optimally support learning and memory functions," said Gold, who is director of the Medical Scholars Program in the University of Illinois College of Medicine.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The brain runs on glucose. Young rats can do a pretty good job of supplying all the glucose that a particular area of the brain needs until the task becomes difficult," explained McNay, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Yale University. "For an old rat given the same task, the brain glucose supply vanishes out the window. This correlates with a big deficit in performance. A lack of fuel affects the ability to think and remember."[/FONT]
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Glucose, Age, Memory and Learning - Study[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In the May 2001 issue of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Gold, and McNay reported that glucose drainage during a task is specific to the hippocampus, where extracellular levels fell by 30%. (Other brain areas remained stable.) "Only the part of the brain involved with what the animal is asked to do is affected by changes in glucose usage," Gold said.-Not sure how study relates to other study about age, memory and learning. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In the May 2001 issue of the Journal of Gerontology, Gold and McNay described a study which showed how 24-month-old rats experienced a 48% decline in hippocampal extracellular glucose levels, and needed 30 minutes to recover from a maze-related task. Younger, three-month-old rats had only a 12% decline and recovered quickly. When older rats were injected with glucose supplements prior to testing, they did not show the drainage of glucose – and performed at the same levels as the younger rats. [/FONT]
</TD><TD width=14> </TD><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Glucose enhances learning and memory not only in rats but also in many populations of humans," says Gold. "For schoolchildren, this research implies that the contents and timing of meals may need to be coordinated to have the most beneficial cognitive effects that enhance learning."[/FONT]
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How Carbohydrate Foods Can Improve Memory in Older Adults - Studies [/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When Dr. Carol Greenwood tested the memory of older adults after they ate a breakfast of mashed potatoes or barley, she found that "eating carbohydrate foods can improve memory within an hour after ingestion in healthy elderly people with relatively poor memories."[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In another study, Greenwood and her colleagues at the University of Toronto gave a group of healthy senior citizens a bowl of cereal and milk, along with white grape juice for breakfast. Another group only drank water. When tested twenty minutes later, the cereal-eaters had a better memory – able to remember 25% more facts. [/FONT]
</TD><TD width=14> </TD><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Not only does a diet lacking in carbohydrates cut off the brain's main energy supply, Greenwood said a scarcity of glucose can impede the synthesis of acetylcholine, one of the brain's key neurotransmitters.
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Breakfast and Memory - Studies[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Regardless of the source, caloric intake after an overnight fast can cause a short burst in memory capacity, scientists discovered. Carbohydrates, however, generally brought longer-term memory benefits than either fats or proteins in the people tested. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Lead scientist, Dr. Carol Greenwood, emphasized the advantage of nutritious carbohydrates – fruits, vegetables, and whole grains – instead of simple sugars such as pastries. Her studies point to the importance of children's breakfasts to school performance.
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Another University of Toronto study compared the memory-improving effects of different breakfasts eaten after an overnight fast. Participants who consumed a carbohydrate breakfast of potatoes or barley performed better on short- and long-term memory tests, compared to those who consumed only a glucose-laden lemon drink. Both groups did better than the participants who consumed only an inactive placebo. [/FONT]
</TD><TD width=14> </TD><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Our study showed that eating carbohydrate foods can improve memory within an hour after ingestion in healthy elderly people with relatively poor memories," said lead author Randall J. Kaplan. "Individuals with seemingly minor deficits in glucose regulation appear to perform worse on cognitive (memory) tests and are most sensitive to the beneficial effects of carbohydrates."
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Too Much Blood Sugar – Too Little Brain Sugar[/FONT] </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A sugary snack or soft drink that quickly raises your blood sugar level gives you a boost (and any caffeine adds to the lift), but it's short-lived. When you eat something with a high sugar content your pancreas starts to secrete insulin. Insulin triggers cells throughout your body to pull the excess glucose out of your bloodstream and store it for later use.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Soon, the glucose available to your brain has dropped. Neurons, unable to store glucose, experience an energy crisis. Hours later, you feel spaced-out, weak, confused, and/or nervous. Your ability to focus and think suffers. The name for this glucose deficiency is hypoglycemia , and it can even lead to unconsciousness.[/FONT]
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High Sugar Intake Over Time [/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Repeatedly overloading the bloodstream with sugar can diminish the body's ability to respond to insulin, and type 2 diabetes may develop. [/FONT]
</TD><TD width=14> </TD><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This is not good for the brain, because diabetes causes a narrowing of the arteries and makes the brain more susceptible to gradual damage. People with diabetes are more vulnerable to depression and are more likely to suffer a decline in mental ability as they age.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Low Blood Sugar Slows Brain - Study [/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Low blood glucose levels can lead to a significant deterioration in attention abilities, University of Edinburgh researchers concluded after testing healthy individuals in whom hypoglycemia had been induced. [/FONT]
</TD><TD width=14> </TD><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Auditory and visual information was processed more slowly when the subjects' brains were temporarily deprived of its main source of energy.
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Soft Drinks are Hard on Your Brain[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When levels of circulating glucose drop, the initial sugar-high turns into an energy crisis for your brain. (Neurons cannot store glucose, like body cells can.) An hour or two after drinking a sugary soft drink, you feel the need for another boost.[/FONT]
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What Happens in Your Body When You Have a Soft Drink[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you've ever had a blood test that measured your fasting blood glucose level, it should be somewhere around 100 milligrams per deciliter. That's one gram of blood sugar per liter of blood, which translates into only about five grams (a teaspoon) of sugar in circulation throughout your entire bloodstream. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Let's say you suck down the typical non-diet soft drink that contains ten times that amount of sugar, which is then quickly absorbed and enters into your bloodstream. Sensors in your brain's hypothalamus will instruct your pancreas to secrete insulin, which causes the cells in your body to pull this overload of glucose out of your bloodstream and store it for later use.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Even when blood sugar levels are again normalized, insulin levels can remain high, because your liver may be unable to remove the circulating insulin fast enough. [/FONT]
</TD><TD width=14> </TD><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In addition, drinking carbonated soft drinks decreases the amount of pure water a person consumes, which can lead to dehydration that depletes the brain and other organs of fluids. (The brain contains a high percentage of water.)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Currently, soft drinks constitute the leading source of added sugars in the diet, amounting to 36.2 grams daily for adolescent girls and 57.7 grams for boys," according to researchers at the Children's Hospital in Boston.
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Soda and Vitamin Deficiencies - Study [/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]What's more, drinking large quantities of soda can lead to deficiencies in several important vitamins and minerals. A survey of more than 4,000 children, aged 2 to 17 years, found that soda consumption rose 41% between 1989-1995. Soda drinkers were less likely to get the recommended levels of vitamin A or calcium, and were at increased risk of magnesium deficiency.
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Liquid Candy-Soda Statistics[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=313>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In 1998, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) published a report titled " Liquid Candy : How Soft Drinks are Harming Americans' Health." A Washington-based nonprofit education and advocacy organization, CSPI focuses on improving the safety and nutritional quality of our food supply. Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., writes: [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Teenage girls consume only 60% of the recommended amount of calcium, with soda-pop drinkers consuming almost one-fifth less calcium than non-drinkers. It is crucial for females in their teens and twenties to build up bone mass to reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life.... [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Obesity rates have risen in tandem with soda consumption. Soft drinks provide 10.3% of the calories consumed by overweight teenage boys, but only 7.6% of the calories consumed by other boys. The National Institutes of Health recommends that people trying to lose or control their weight should drink water instead of soft drinks with sugar." [/FONT]
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