by Dr. German Garcia-Fresco
Neuroscientist
Perreault Magazine - 62 -
NEUROSCIENCE OF
F O O D
In last month’s issue we covered a very essential part of our life that consumes one third of our lifetime: sleep. Although this is a crucial process that we must undergo, it is not the only one. Food intake is the backbone of our survival. For the purpose of this article I will refer to food in the solid and liquid form and will include in this category any condiment, stimulant, animal part, plant or artificial product whether it has a nutritional value or not.
Food consumption, believe it or not, takes up approximately 8 years of our lifetime. That is almost 10% of our daily life dedicated to filling our stomachs. Almost everything we consume on a daily basis has an effect on our brains one way or another. Certain foods will have a more profound effect than others, but in essence, our brain is involved almost all the time.
I will divide the food into two categories: Quick food - Those that have an almost immediate effect on our brains such as sugar, caffeine, or alcohol and slow food - those that have a slow acting effect over periods of several hours or even days such as complex carbohydrates, cacao and vitamins.
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