It Takes a Lot to Be a Fathead - Part 2 |
By Dr. Tom Wnorowski
First published at www.MohrResults.com, July 2007
In Part 1 we had established that fatty acids are essential to brain development and maintenance, and that their exclusion from the diet can be disastrous. Cognitive impairment is the most overt sign of fatty acid deficiency. Please do not confuse this malady with the everyday forgetfulness that is nothing more than a nuisance, as in forgetting where you left your keys. Just don’t leave your spouse at the rest stop and expect to talk your way out of it.
In the brain there are chemicals that help neurons to communicate with each other across tiny spaces, called synapses. These synapses contain an electrolytic fluid that helps transmit nerve impulses, much as a battery sends electricity across its poles. When an impulse charges along the axon, a fiber akin to an extension cord, it jumps into this electrolytic broth and hooks up with a receptor on the other side of the synapse. The molecules that cross the synapse are neurotransmitters, which have been said to modify and to shape human behavior. If we can keep the neurotransmitters in good shape, we will be in good shape mentally. Serotonin and acetylcholine are two of the better-known. There are more than two dozen others, some of whose names require more than one set of teeth to pronounce.
The brain requires about 20% of our oxygen and energy supply to help feed more than 100 billion neurons. The uninterrupted flow of oxygen, sugars, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids is essential. An interruption of only fifteen seconds can cause unconsciousness; five minutes, death.
There has been much debate about whether or not sugar causes behavior anomalies. Let’s see what happens when sugar is ingested in high amounts. The brain’s hypothalamus tells the pancreas to secrete insulin after sugar is consumed. The insulin tells the body’s cells to take whatever sugar they need from the blood. Usually, the brain uses about half the sugar. The other organs prefer to burn fat, but will burn the sugar if it is available. The other organs combined weigh almost fifty times as much as the brain--which weighs three pounds—and successfully compete with it for the free sugar. This results in too little fuel to the brain, and intensifies when there is insufficient chromium to bind insulin with the cell membrane. The results? Low energy and a craving for more sugar.
Normally, a healthy person’s circulating blood has only about one teaspoon of sugar in it. The twelve teaspoons from a can of cola upset the balance and might be the cause of mental confusion and several physical afflictions, including hypoglycemia and diabetes. In the meantime, sugar is waiting to get into the cell, where it is burned for energy. If the sugar that is already there is not burned because of a sedentary attitude, the free sugar increases and levels become unacceptable. What do we do? Eat complex carbohydrates. They are a kind of timed-release form of sugar that does not require a large amount of insulin in order to be metabolized. Therefore, the brain is not forced to compete with rivals.
A chemical called adenosine triphosphate, ATP, is produced by burning sugar. This is the chemical upon which the brain relies for its very life. ATP molecules release stored energy to generate neurotransmitters, as well as to transport proteins to cells, to conduct electrical impulses, and to extend brain cells. See why we have to control the amount of sugar available for the brain?
There are two interlocking metabolic cycles responsible for the manufacture of brain ATP energy: the Krebs cycle and the glycolitic cycle. Enzymatic “spark plugs” are needed for their integrity--they are vitamins B1, B2, B3, biotin, magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, lipoic acid, and co-enzyme Q10. Some of these cannot cross the brain-blood barrier easily enough to be effective because they are not consumed in sufficient quantities; hence the need to exceed the RDA, which is out-of-date anyhow. Studies have shown that mood or mental abnormalities often are early signs of nutrient deficiencies or imbalances.
Don’t mess up the machinery with sugar overload. Eat it. Enjoy it above the synthetic stuff. But be temperate.
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