Brain Power -- Eat your carbs

I'm reading the book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma." It is a fascinating look at how food is produced and consumed in the United States. This little nugget of information popped out at me last night.

"The adult human brain accounts for 2 percent of our body weight but consumes 18 percent of our energy, all of which must come from a carbohydrate."

What's interesting is that the author, Michael Pollan, also says that brain size and gut size are inversely linked in animals. The bigger the brain, the smaller the gut and the bigger the gut the smaller the brain. Animals with large guts and small brains tend to usually only eat one or two items. Animals (like humans and rats) with big brains and small guts tend to eat a wide variety of items.

Pollan says that zoologists theorize that the brain of koala bears has actually shrunk over time. It seems that koala bears' brains don't even come close to filling up the space in their skulls. He says that this shrinkage has happened as koala bears have gone from a diet that included a number of different plants to a diet made up entirely of eucalyptus leaves.

Here's to eating a wide variety of carbs!