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Does the brain burn enough calories to keep you thin? What does that say about fatties?

Wayne State University
"Brain Surges," (DiCresce, undated)
http://www.med.wayne.edu/wayne%20medicine/wm97/brain.htm

University of Northumbria
"Oxygen Administration, Cognitive Performance and Physiological Responses,"
(Mark C. Moss, PhD Thesis 1999)
http://psychology.unn.ac.uk/mark/chapter1/chap1.htm

Yeah

Side Score: 3
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Nah

Side Score: 3

Energy consumption by the brain is 230-247 calories, based on 17

calories/gram and human brain sizes of 1,350-1,450 grams. During

periods of peak performance, adults increase that energy consumption

by up to 50%, according to psychology lecturer Mark Moss, of the

University of Northumbria.

While this may not seem an extraordinary amount of energy, the brain

may use 30% of a body's total energy, while being only 2?3% of total

body mass.

(in case you noticed, I posted on the other side as well. I like playing both sides against the middle :)

Side: Yeah
Lerouche(33) Disputed
1 point

Who eats 1200 calories a day???

If the body burns a max of 400 calories a day, and you consider that to be 1/3 of your total energy that means you only eat 1200 calories a day.

Are you all a bunch of twelve year olds? No adult can live a normal active life on that many calories. Unless you are a quadraplegic.

Side: Nah
1 point

As you said, the brain for such a small organ uses up more than it's share of calories. You also find how the brain is reacting to certain things will help burn even more calories, ie producing nervous energy, or the flight response. I guess this is one of the reasons why different psych meds can play havock with your weight and energy levels.

Side: Yeah

Now that I think of it, most smart people are thin... well, now I have one more reason to attend class.

Side: Yeah

In 1986, researchers isolated both the "at rest" and "active"

consumption of calories in the brain. Since then we've learned quite

a bit about brain activities, particularly as PET scans have been

applied to monitor glucose consumption in the brain.

As a result, we know lots of things, including that:

energy consumption in the brain is related to learning. In other

words, once you've learned something (like mastering that chess game),

the energy consumption goes down.

energy consumption in the brain is more than two times higher for

children under age 4. This is no surprise because they are learning

and building brain structure. The brain's energy consumption levels

around age 10 to 12.

* IQ can effect energy consumption. After learning a task, lower IQ

people have to exert more energy to complete a task than high IQ

people who have learned the same task.

(in case you noticed, I posted on the other side as well. I like playing both sides against the middle :)

Side: Nah