They may not make you smart, but they will keep you from getting stupid... er. Your cognitive skills like attention, long- and short-term memory, spatial memory, and visual attention will all take a hit if you eliminate carbohydrates from your diet. That means that the bag of potato chips I ate this afternoon was brain food. The french toast I like to have on weekends? Absolutely vital for my spatial memory. (The gallons of syrup? Not so much.)
I'm not making it up. A Tufts University study tracked volunteers on low carbohydrate diets, and a separate set of subjects on balanced, low-calorie diets. The low carbohydrate test subjects did worse on memory-based tests. Luckily, it's not a permanent effect, and they returned back to normal as soon as carbohydrates were reintroduced.
The study only involved 19 test subjects, so it's not as though there's a massive body of data available. Still, I'm going to load up on twinkies, mashed potatoes, liquor and pie so that I'm ahead of the curve. I've got to keep my edge, after all!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Are Potatoes the New Brain Food?
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The header image is adapted from a photo taken by Bill McChesney and used under a creative commons license.
2 comments:
If they are, give some to people who think Utah could actually not lose by less than thirty points to Penn State
They sell french fries at stadiums. Maybe they could put up signs outside that read YOU MUST EAT AT LEAST THIS MANY POTATOES TO ATTEND THIS SPORTING EVENT.
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