Weekly Recap

This week I discussed the RAS, which is a structure in your brain that acts like a switch that goes back and forth from your rational brain to your emotional brain.  I also brought up some dietary things that are good for your health like dark chocolate and Omega-3 fatty acids which are found in things like fish and nuts.  I talked about how there is no real supporting research which shows that taking vitamin or mineral supplements contributes to better health, however you should probably go ahead and take a daily multivitamin anyway. There are also three levels of taste buds out there - nontasters, tasters, and supertasters.  Depending on which one you are, it can affect your eating habits which affects your health. The information for this week's posts came  from "The Owner's Manual for the Brain", by Pierce J. Howard.

Taste Buds

Scientists have found three levels of taste bud ability: nontasters, tasters, and supertasters.  Tasters make up about 50% of the population with nontasters and supertasters taking up 25% each.  Supertasters tend to have lower cholesterol and are less obese.  To the supertaster, bitter tastes more bitter, salty more salty, and sweet more sweet.  Ginger, alcohol, carbonated beverages, and chili peppers all create a more intense sensation of burning on the supertasters tongue. They tend to have an advantage against weight gain, some research shows that they find fatty and sugary foods too intense and avoid them.  Nontasters eat a wider variety of foods than the other two groups.  They also have a tendency to eat more hoping that by charging their tongues with quantity they will experience pleasant tastes.  However, quantity does not equal quality, and they should instead over-season their food. To find out which level you are, you first need to get some phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) paper from a local chemical supply store.  Tasting this paper strip will let you know if you can taste something called PROP.  If it just tastes like paper, than you might be a nontaster. If it tastes extremely bitter you are probably a supertaster. Just slightly bitter and you are a taster. To finish, swab your tongue with blue food coloring, then take one small circular reinforcing sticker used for protecting notebook paper holes and place it on the center of your tongue near the tip.  Use a mirror to count the number of papillary bumps (the blue sticks to everything but the bumps).  The more bumps you have, the more of a taster you are.  Nontasters have around five bumps, supertasters can have thirty or more. This information came  from "The Owner's Manual for the Brain", by Pierce J. Howard.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week I started writing about diet and nutrition topics as far as they affect overall health and brain, just in time for the big meal!  Whereas I don't expect anyone to eat an actual healthy Thanksgiving meal, (I know I sure won't!) hopefully you can adopt some of the advice for all the other non-holiday meals so that you can survive the holidays!  Today's post is about vitamins and supplements.  From 1990 to 1997 spending on vitamin and mineral products more than doubled from about 3 billion to about 6.5 billion.  However, this buying trend is not based on any demonstrable research to back it up.  The research shows meager and uncertain evidence that there are any benefits for using these supplements.  Vitamin users do not live longer or die less frequently from cancer, based on a 13 year study of over ten thousand Americans by Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who put out a report in 1993 available at their website www.cdc.gov.   They found no support for the idea that vitamin and mineral supplements can make up for bad eating habits.  Although supplements can help diseases such as rickets and scurvy, there is no conclusive evidence for things such as cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, longevity or overall well being.  There was a 20 year study in the Lancet Oct, 2 2004 of about 170,000 people at risk of developing gastrointestinal cancers which found that taking antioxidant pills for vitamins A, C, and E showed to be no help in reducing cancer risk.  Basically you should be getting your antioxidants from healthy foods. The real benefits are seen when eating a variety of foods, minimizing fats, eating more fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates. The book I'm reading does suggest however that you "hedge your bets" by taking a daily multivitamin.  This information came  from "The Owner's Manual for the Brain", by Pierce J. Howard.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3's can benefit the cardiovascular system and the joints, as well as being used to treat diabetes.  There are also a host of mental problems that the omega-3's help including depression.  They are found naturally in avocados, flax seed, fish, canola oil and nuts.  Omega-3's must stay in balance with omega-6's which Americans have seen a huge increase of in their diets resulting in higher depression rates.  Countries with the highest fish consumption have the lowest depression and suicide rates, and countries with the lowest fish consumption have the highest depression and suicide rates. Lack of omega-3's are also a culprit with postpartum depression as the fetus takes the mothers supply of them. Alcoholism drains supplies of omega-3's, but there has been no research to date regarding the consumption of omega-3 rich foods offsetting the physical effects of excessive alcohol use.  Try to go for unsalted nuts for snacks and meals.  Olive oil should be your number one source of fat, you should make canola oil number two. This information came  from "The Owner's Manual for the Brain", by Pierce J. Howard.

Chocolate

Research has found that eating chocolate is healthy (see Science News, Mar18, 2000).  Real cocoa contains flavonoids, which is a natural antioxidant.  One 40 gram serving, (about the size of one typical chocolate bar) of pure milk chocolate has about 400 mg of antioxidants, which is about the same amount found in a glass of red wine.  One serving of dark chocolate has more than double the number of antioxidants found in one cup of black tea.  Personally I eat Ghiradelli dark chocolate with a cocoa percentage of 82% which is a little bitter.  The problems with milk chocolate are the associated butter fats and sugar that are also in the bar. Chocolate has caffeine in it, so you might avoid eating it at night.  Chocolate can help in limiting plaque development and it works to relax the inner wall of blood vessels, resulting in improved circulation and reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke.   Apparently chocolate's flavonoids have the same anticoagulant effect as taking a mild aspirin. If you improve your blood circulation, that will have a resultant effect on blood flow to your brain. So eating chocolate is good for your brain! This information came  from "The Owner's Manual for the Brain", by Pierce J. Howard.

Back To The Brain

Way back when I started talking about a structure in the brain called the RAS which is an abbreviation for reticular activation system.  You can read the original article here.  I have just today found another function of the RAS, apparently it also works as a switch between two of the three brains that I described here.  This is switching between the mammalian, or emotional, also called the midbrain, to and away from the cortex.  So this means that it has the ability to effectively shut down your rational thinking brain and turn on your emotional brain and then go back again.  The book I am reading now mentioned a story about a man who had begun experiencing increasing periods of violence and rage.  So he went to the hospital.  They found a tumor putting pressure on his RAS which switched on his emotional brain, causing him to become violent. (They removed the tumor and he returned to a healthy life).  Scientists then experimented on bulls, cats and mice putting in their brains an electronic equivalent of the tumor and they were then able to switch back and forth from violent to peaceful states with the push of a button. The material I read did not say whether or not the functioning of the RAS was under volitional control, I suspect that it isn't, so I wonder what triggers the switch with a healthy RAS?  I also wonder if with training, can you learn to take control of the RAS? I'm fairly sure that one thing which may be triggering it would be the fight or flight response.  Like say you come around a corner to find a hungry bear.  As your brain recognizes it's impending doom, a whole slew of responses course through your body, preparing it for survival, and unfortunately one of the things that happens is that your rational mind gets shut down making it harder to think.  You instead just react.  So the RAS is a very important structure in the brain. This information came  from "The Owner's Manual for the Brain", by Pierce J. Howard.

Weekly Recap

This week saw me looking at various aspects of Buddhism and meditation, from descriptions of reality being like a waterfall, all the way to depictions of heavenly mind states.  These posts have been a reflection of my attempt to understand Buddhist philosophy. Most of what I have learned is what meditation really strives to achieve.  Years of meditation is like polishing a crystal goblet until it is amazingly clear and bright, that is what you are doing with your mind.  I have recently learned about a book called "The Quantum and the Lotus" which is written by an astrophysicist and an ex-scientist turned Buddhist monk, and they apparently discuss how science and Buddhist philosophy agree.  I am really interested in checking into these ideas, so hopefully in the next week or so I will be getting a copy of this book and can write about it on my blog.