The human brain used to be regarded as a black box—an isolated organ hiding in a protective bony cage. Now known it is as a user-friendly, living computer.
Among the many inputs that can alter this living computer is diet. In regions of the world where babies don't get enough to eat, the number of cells in the brain is decreased and the amount of brain DNA can be deficient as a result of diet deficiencies either before birth or during lactation or childhood. 1
Nor is that all. From cellular biology we know that brain cells synthesize RNA from DNA patterns. Part of this process is called transcription. The capacity for transcription is permanently damaged when the diet is deficient during early development. 2 Early malnutrition diminishes the number of brain cells permanently. Later malnutrition cuts down the size of brain cells.
And the so-called developed world is not immune to this terrible handicap. It can be seen in the ghetto, in children of alcoholic mothers, and in other more isolated settings. Nutrition makes a difference in building the brain.
Malnourished children often suffer from a broad range of deficiency. They demonstrate poor motor control, they are lethargic, and they do not even play normally. Some are difficult to arouse, frequently they are withdrawn, and their social responsiveness is low. 3 Severe malnourishment also hinders the development of language abilities. Unfortunately, malnourished children may not catch up to normal children; rather, in time they may fall farther and farther behind. 4
Fortunately, most malnourished babies respond well—even if they do not reach the heights of achievement they could have without this developmental trauma—if they are cared for early with a program of nutrition and emotional, social, and spiritual nurturance. One of the earliest signs of hope is the child's emergence from apathy, when he or she be comes interested in his or her environment.
Nutrition and brain function
The human brain is so active that about 18 percent of the oxygen we use at rest is needed just to keep it going. Not only is the brain busy; it is very fussy about its fuel. Other parts of the body, including the heart, can burn fat, protein, and carbohydrate. But the brain re quires carbohydrate almost exclusively —and plenty of it, delivered steadily by open arteries.
Of all the organs in the body, the brain is most vulnerable to glucose deficiency. The ideal way to get this energy fuel is from fruits, whole grains, and vegetables —from complex carbohydrate, as it is called. But large amounts of sugar in the diet can cause problems for the brain.
When 46 five-year-old boys were studied for sustained attention, the boys whose diets contained relatively little sugar focused their attention longer and responded more accurately than those who ate more sugar. On the average the high-sugar group obtained 26 percent of their daily calories from sugar; the low-sugar group averaged 12 percent. Protein and fat consumption were the same. The average IQ of the two groups was the same (116), and the parents came from similar backgrounds—all having completed more than two years of college.
The differences in the boys' performance in sustained attention and ability to distinguish pictures of similar and different animals were statistically significant and corresponded to about one letter grade in school performance.5
Too much sugar seems to shoot the blood sugar too high, then nosedive it too low, too soon. This makes for an unreliable fuel supply for the brain, something like having a problem with the fuel pump in a car. Thus it leads to unreliable performance.
Diet and maintenance of the brain
All body parts are dynamic, and the brain is no exception. It needs a balanced variety of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to perform optimally. Moderation in supply and appropriate care in food quality can make a difference. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that carry messages across the syn apse, the tiny gap between nerve cells. The brain synthesizes many essential neurotransmitter substances out of amino acids. If these raw materials are missing, the brain may lack some of these important trigger molecules.
Excess saturated fat is almost as hard on our body's computer as it is on our hearts. Vital membranes of the brain, including those at the synapses, become too stiff and rigid. Unsaturated fat, as from vegetables, seeds, nuts, and greens, brings a desirable fluidity to nerve cells. This could help the circuits of the brain to be more flexible and "teachable."
Too much cholesterol can also be a problem. Fish oils are not as valuable as previously thought in alleviating this problem because they also contain cholesterol, diverse chemicals, and possibly viruses. Unfortunately they also create a tendency toward more bleeding problems, as is seen in Eskimos.
There is also a breakdown product of fish oil called malondialdehyde, a cancer-forming substance noticeably higher in people on a fish- or marine-oil diet. This may help explain the elevated cancer incidence in some maritime populations. It is wiser to get the omega-3 fat from vegetable sources like greens, walnuts, soy oil, and oil of flax, instead of secondhand from fish.
The problem of fake neurotransmitters
Normal neurotransmitters save much electrical energy of the brain and body. False or counterfeit neurotransmitters confuse the cells by making chemical static, or noise, which can make discrimination almost impossible.
Some people using certain mood-elevating drugs can accumulate a lot of tyramine, one of these false neurotransmitters, when they consume meats, certain cheeses, wines, or rich foods, be cause the drug blocks the destruction of tyramine. This buildup can result in a life-threatening crisis of high blood pres sure. Large, rich meals, especially late at night, can generate too much tyramine. Since tyramine is a counterfeit noradrenaline, it can occupy the receptors for the normal neurotransmitter, and hence exaggerate noradrenaline effects anywhere in the. body, including the brain.6
Another false neurotransmitter is tryptamine. It can be produced in the bowel by the untimely alteration of a normal amino acid, tryptophan. This false neurotransmitter is counterfeit serotonin, which has been implicated in bad dreams, abnormal vision, and imperception.
Another influence of diet on the brain is highlighted by Russian research on dogs. 7 One meal of meat markedly in creases the ketosteroids (stress hormones) compared to a comparable diet of bread or milk. The blood-brain-barrier system of the brain, which prevents pas sage of large molecules to the higher centers of the brain, does not protect the endocrine glands of the brain or the fluid-secreting choroid plexus. Thus, dietary and body chemicals, such as by-products from meat, can get a chemical beach head in the brain. The Russian experiments help explain why many people claim that a big steak stimulates them. Unfortunately this is a false chemical stimulus. It occurs in the bottom of the brain, gaining access to the lower centers because the blood-brain-barrier system does not afford protection.
The functions of the brain are organized with the highest mental and spiritual functions centralized in the top of the brain (the cortex) and the lowest or animal functions concentrated in the bottom of the brain. The bottom gets the brunt of irritation, both directly by chemicals and indirectly via the nerves from the stomach and internal organs.
Blood bathes the brain continuously. If this perfusing blood is contaminated by irritating chemicals from meat, especially highly seasoned meat, the balance of power in the brain can be shifted to the bottom, or to the animal nature.
Another problem of secondhand foods (animal as opposed to vegetable products) is that they tend to depress the function of the top of the brain. One of the most widely studied neurotransmitters is acetylcholine. Breakdown products of proteins slow the synthesis of ace tylcholine in the brain.8 Adenosine, a breakdown product of DNA, can decrease the firing of cortical nerve cells. At higher concentrations the firing almost stops. 9
Arachidonic acid, a fatty acid that is common in meat and rich diets, can deplete acetylcholine from nerve cells in the cortex of the brain.10 This fatty acid inhibits the synthesis and storage of this nerve neurotransmitter, so important for the best function of the cortex of the brain.
The original diet When we survey brain chemistry, 11 our minds are drawn to the diet God originally gave to our first ancestors. God said, " 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'. . .God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (Gen. 1:29-31).* After our first parents left the garden, further direction was given: "And you will eat the plants of the field" (Gen. 3:18). This is the diet originally given to man—fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables in primal profusion.
No wonder Daniel thrived on it. From the very beginning of his long career in Babylon he requested, "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink" (Dan. 1:12). He had a neurochemical advantage. When this was combined with total cooperation with the Holy Spirit, the results were to be wondered at.
When the children of Israel were in that great field school in the desert, God gave them manna, "bread from heaven," to eat. This food was well designed to foster mental superiority and spiritual excellence. But they rebelled. "They soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel. In the desert they gave in to their cravings; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them" (Ps. 106:13-15).
A meat diet would tend toward insubordination. God guided His people to a land flowing with milk and honey, well designed for an excellent environment and a splendid diet. Instead of following God, His people followed the nations around them—and the result was "a wasting disease."
It may be observed that the original diet is the best for the heart, best for the arteries, best for preventing cancer, and best for the brain. Paul reminds us, "Now these things occurred as examples, to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did" (1 Cor. 10:6).
How to change
Wherever we live, we should grow step by step into using the best of the foods available to us, foods that will nourish a better life for our hearts, our bodies, and our brains.
Start now to eat a diet more like that of Eden. This will overcome evil with good. Your cholesterol level will come down. Your endurance and mental clarity will go up. If you move gradually into a vegetarian diet, you can prevent the letdown that otherwise often results when meat no longer provides the stimulus the hypothalamus is used to. Regular and ample exercise will help you make and maintain the change. And drinking plenty of water and breathing fresh air deeply as you stride out into a new start of the rest of your life will multiply the buoyancy you feel.
Soon your understanding of God's Word will sharpen. Your attitudes will be easier to mold. Your prayers will become less formal and more effective. Your creativity will increase. After all, didn't the Creator and Designer of the human brain know its best fuel, its best food?
*Bible texts cited in this article are from the New International Version.
1. M. Winick, and P. Rosso, "Malnutrition and Central Nervous System Development," James W. Prescott et al., eds., in Brain Function and Malnutrition (New York: Wiley and Sons, 1975), pp. 41-51.
2. L. L. Thakur, U. S. Srivastrava, et al., "MRNA Translatability in the Liver, Brain and Kidney of Rats: Effects of Protein Calorie Malnutrition in Early Life," Nutrition Research 7 (1987): 307-318.
3. D. E. Barrett, "Behavior as an Outcome in Nutrition Research," Nutrition Reviews/supplement 44 (May 1986): 224-236.
4. J. Cravioto and E. R. DeLicardia, "Neurointegrative Development and Intelligence in Children Rehabilitated From Severe Malnutrition," in Prescott, pp. 53-72.
5. R. ]. Prinz and D. B. Riddle, "Associations Between Nutrition and Behavior in 5-year-old Children," Nutrition Reviews/supplement 44 (May 1986): 151-158.
6. S. V. Bhave, S. D. Telang, et al., "Effects of Nutritional Stress on Brain Tyramine Concentration and Dopamine Turnover," Neurochemical Research 13 (1988): 567-570.
7. E. G. Gromova, "Changes in the 17-Hydroxycorticosteroid Plasma Level During Digestion in Dogs," Federation Proceedings (translation supplement) 23 (1964): T397, 398.
8. C. TordaandH. G. Wolff, "Effect of Tobacco Virus, Some Decomposition Products of Nucleoproteins, and Related Compounds on Acetylcholine Synthesis," Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 58 (1945): 108-110.
9. S. V. Karnup and A. V. Kolomoets, "Neuronal Firing in Guinea Pig Neocortical Slices Surviving in Vitro During Adenosine-induced Blockade of Synaptic Transmission," Neirofiziologiya 19 (November/December 1987): 816-824.
10. P. Boksa, S. Mykita, and B. Collier, "Arachidonic Acid Inhibits Choline Uptake and Depletes Acetylcholine Content in Rat Cerebral Cortical Synaptosomes," Journal of Neurochemistry 50 (1988): 1309-1318.
11. J. R. Cooper, F. E. Bloom, and R. H. Roth, The Biochemical Basis of Neumpharmacology, 5th ed. (Cambridge: Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 400. G.]. Siegeletal., BasicNeurochemistry, 4th ed. (New York: Raven Press, 1989).
