Carbs and brain function

[Dido]

Does one need complex carbohydrates for brain function, because my family and I are butting heads over this issue and they believe that one needs complex carbs in order for the brain to function and that doctors wouldn't advocate a paleo diet.

[Rosebud]

Nope. If anything, the brain uses glucose, not complex carbs. But the small amount of glucose needed by a few of our organs is easily supplied by a process called gluconeogenesis. That means the body can turn protein into whatever glucose is required for body function.
So tell your family that even if you ate no carbs at all, you would still be extremely healthy, as long as you eat a sufficient amount of protein. :)

Rosebud:rose:

[Nancy LC]

Here's the argument you use... ask him what eskimo's eat in the winter time. Essentially they eat nothing but fat and protein. Ask him how, if carbs are necessary to brain function, people don't die after fasting for a few days. If he says your body destroys muscle for glucogenesis remind him that you have plenty of amino acids to draw upon from your dietary protein.

[black57]

Both very good answers. I would also ask if the brain requires complex carbs to function what happens to people who don't include complex carbs in their diet. What happens to them? Do they die, become comatose, do they have strokes. Do their brains truly become inactive. Where is the documentation where those of us complex-carb-ignorant people have brains that do not function. Actually, I should not have been able to type this sentence if complex carbs are so important.

Oooh, another thing ( my low carb brain is slipping me thinks ),most complex carbs such as pasta and bread has not always existed. What did the human race eat before Wonder Bread and Snicker Bars?

[amberview]

Obviously not, here's what happened today as a great example. I remembered a law and a policy from 2004 which the others in my office did not remember. I had to go look it up and print it off for my coworkers. I actually had left the company for 6 months a year prior and none of these carb eating people remotely remembered the policy and the 11,000 fine that the FTC and the FCC would fine my company if they did what they proposed to do! How's that for brain function. :-)

[HunterMan]

Do they die, become comatose, do they have strokes.

WHAT, I thought that was normally what happens on a LC diet because it happens to me on a daily basis.

[black57]

WHAT, I thought that was normally what happens on a LC diet because it happens to me on a daily basis.


:lol: Yeah, me too and I have never felt better. :lol:

[santabarb]

Obviously not, here's what happened today as a great example. I remembered a law and a policy from 2004 which the others in my office did not remember. I had to go look it up and print it off for my coworkers. I actually had left the company for 6 months a year prior and none of these carb eating people remotely remembered the policy and the 11,000 fine that the FTC and the FCC would fine my company if they did what they proposed to do! How's that for brain function. :-)

I'd give it an A+. :thup:

[Muata]

Both very good answers. I would also ask if the brain requires complex carbs to function what happens to people who don't include complex carbs in their diet. What happens to them? Do they die, become comatose, do they have strokes. Do their brains truly become inactive. Where is the documentation where those of us complex-carb-ignorant people have brains that do not function. Actually, I should not have been able to type this sentence if complex carbs are so important.

Since I don't eat complex carbs, I think I can answer your question;) Your brains will work just fine off of the ketones your liver supplies it and the glucose it creates from glucogenesis. Do a google search and you'll find all the information you need as to the different fuels the brain can use.

Oooh, another thing ( my low carb brain is slipping me thinks ),most complex carbs such as pasta and bread has not always existed. What did the human race eat before Wonder Bread and Snicker Bars?

Mainly meat! However, go to beyondveg.com for a boatload of articles and websites that will satisfy all of your pre-agriculture answers. Also, you might want to read Ray Audette's Neanderthin; the book is really inexpensive.

[Dido]

I also have another question, does making glucose from protein require more energy than if it does from complex carbs?

[mike_d]

There is no such thing as a "complex carbohydrate" starches start breaking down into sugars in the mouth via amylase and soon become glucose in the intestine. Eating a plain white potato is like eating a bowel of sugar and if you drink skim milk you might as well swill soda pop.

[fetch]

There is no such thing as a "complex carbohydrate" starches start breaking down into sugars in the mouth via amylase and soon become glucose in the intestine. Eating a plain white potato is like eating a bowel of sugar and if you drink skim milk you might as well swill soda pop.
So what do you call vegetables like beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, cucumbers, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsley, and sweet peppers, then? :confused: I mean, there's complex carbohydrates other than "starches" (i.e., corn, wheat, rice, potato), right?

I understand the need to simplify, but you can over-simplify, yanno? Trying to be gently helpful.

Seconding what has already been said, carbohydrates - simple or complex - are not essential nutrients or needed for cognitive function. If they were, I'm pretty confident this forum would not exist as-is. Too many people would be dead. ;)

[CVH]

So what do you call vegetables like beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, cucumbers, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsley, and sweet peppers, then? :confused: I mean, there's complex carbohydrates other than "starches" (i.e., corn, wheat, rice, potato), right?


Starches with different colors and shapes and more fiber than the latter, but he is correct, the GI index is a bunch of HS.

[Hybrid]

http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/fats.html

[oakdryad]

http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/fats.html

OK, I'm having some issued with this article. It's interesting, but I can't help wonder what the bias is, and some of the material is rather suspect...

Mammals, kept their offspring inside of their bodies, surrounded by a sac called a placenta.

ummm, actually, not. The amnion is the sac, while the placenta is an ephemeral organ that *connects* the mother and fetus and provides nutrients and waste removal for the developing child.

How You Make DHA


From ALA and LA, your brain can make (docosahexaenoic acid) DHA and (arachidonic acid) AA the longer chained fatty acids that are incorporated in its cell membranes. These more complex fatty acids are also available, preformed, directly from food.


This is important, because the brain's ability to assemble these fatty acids can be compromised by stress, infections, alcohol, excess sugar, and vitamin or mineral deficiencies – factors common today.

Well, yes, you CAN make DHA and EPA (an EFA that they seem to ignore) from ALA and LA, but it's an inefficient and incomplete conversion...and it requires B6, magnesium, calcium and zinc for the process. It's actually MUCH better to get your DHA and EPA directly from fish or seafood.

Type 2 diabetes used to be called "adult-onset" diabetes, because it mostly occurred in people A Dutch study of cognitive function in males, aged 69-89, suggests that a high intake of omega-6 fatty acids (found in red meat) is "positively associated with cognitive impairment and high fish consumption inversely associated with cognitive impairment."

From my reading the high intake of omega-6 fatty acids is more likely to be associated with eating processed food which includes the highly processed polyunsaturated vegetable oils -- corn, canola, etc. -- and transfats.

YMMV