The Brain on Sugar:
It tastes good, but a moment on the lips, forever on the
hips…hippocampus in the brain that is! Did you know that consuming too much sugar
can make you less intelligent and forgetful! Unfortunately, it’s true!
Sugar has been linked to imbalances in the inflammatory
cascade. This causes heart and vasculature congestion, nutrient deficiencies,
and heightened arousal (via activating the release of chemicals involved in the
stress response).
When your body is stressed out physically or emotionally,
the higher functioning of reason is clicked off as your emotional brain for
survival is clicked on! The following article in Medscape recently discussed
sugar effects on the brain:
High
blood glucose levels can affect the brain through various mechanisms, perhaps
the most likely being fallout from inflammatory processes, according to Dr.
Cherbuin. “Higher glucose levels trigger an anti-inflammatory cascade. We
know this is not good for the brain, and particularly [is] not good for the
hippocampus, which is sensitive to environmental stresses, whether inside the
body or coming from outside.”
Another
possible mechanism is abnormal blood coagulation. High glucose levels may lead
to abnormal coagulation, thereby increasing the likelihood of thrombosis,
microemboli, and clinical and subclinical strokes, which are risk factors for
brain aging.
Psychological
stress could be another culprit. Stress is associated with increased activation
of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and this activation has been
linked to increased glucose levels.
Source: Pauline Anderson. Even High Normal Blood Glucose
Linked to Brain Atrophy. From Medscape Medical News: Neurology. 9/5/12. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/770353?src=mpnews
Fructose on the
brain
Now we know that
sugar effects memory negatively, but did you also know it makes pain hard to
forget?
One abstract from
the European J of Pharmacology demonstrated that mice that were given pre-morphine
administration of glucose or fructose had less pain control. The researchers
concluded that these sugars had a direct effect on central nervous systems
feedback mechanisms, with fructose blocking anti-pain receptors more than
glucose. (Yet another reason to avoid soda!)
Source: Lux F, Brase DA, Dewey WL. Antagonism of
antinociception in mice by glucose and fructose: comparison of subcutaneous and
intrathecal morphine.Eur J Pharmacol. 1988 Feb 9;146(2-3):337-40. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3371404
Mind Effects of Alcohol
Sugar, fructose, and alcohol make for an anxious brain. This
may be surprising with society’s misconception that drinking can “calm the
nerves.”
A recent article in Science daily provided important
information on how alcohol modulates people’s ability to process feelings.
Specifically, alcohol has blunting effects on areas in the brain related to emotional
processing, anxiety, and healing from trauma.
Although the methods of force feeding mice excess alcohol and
shocking them to produce PTSD- like- effects seem a little intense, the science
gave insight on specific pathways in the brain affected and proposes drugs
hitting these marks could help symptoms. I’d like to add that nutritional
deficiencies and supplements affecting the same receptor should also be
considered! J
The article states:
The researchers traced the effect
to differences in the neural circuitry of the alcohol-exposed mice. Comparing
the brains of the mice, researchers noticed nerve cells in the prefrontal
cortex of the alcohol-exposed mice actually had a different shape than those of
the other mice. In addition, the activity of a key receptor, NMDA, was
suppressed in the mice given heavy doses of alcohol.
Holmes said the findings are
valuable because they pinpoint exactly where alcohol causes damage that leads
to problems overcoming fear. “We’re not only seeing that alcohol has
detrimental effects on a clinically important emotional process, but we’re able
to offer some insight into how alcohol might do so by disrupting the
functioning of some very specific brain circuits,” said Holmes.
Understanding the relationship
between alcohol and anxiety at the molecular level could offer new
possibilities for developing drugs to help patients with anxiety disorders who
also have a history of heavy alcohol use. “This study is exciting because
it gives us a specific molecule to look at in a specific brain region, thus
opening the door to discovering new methods to treat these disorders,”
said Kash.
Source: University of North Carolina School of Medicine
(2012, September 2). Heavy drinking rewires brain, increasing susceptibility to
anxiety problems. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 11, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com
/releases/2012/09/120902143143.htm
Read more about the impact of healthy lifestyle and Brain Stress on my homepage.
