

Fatty Foods Affect Memory and Exercise - hedgehog
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/fatty-foods-affect-memory-and-exercise/

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jerf
I can't get at the full text without paying $7, which is not quite something
I'm willing to do, but I'd question the timeframe of the experiment. Low-carb
dieters frequently report that the first two or three days of the diet are
very rough days due to low-energy, but then they bounce back and feel much
better, often reporting that they feel better than before. (Self-reporting
caveat here, of course. Note that I have heard real people say this in real
life, though, not just diet books making the claim, though of course placebo
may be in play.) My point here is not that the self-reports should be
"trusted", for some value of "trusted", but that there's already anecdotal
experience that indicates that the timeframe matters, which I would consider
enough experience that investigation across more than just the "short term" is
fully warranted. I read the abstract carefully and all it says for the time-
frame is "short-term".

In terms of trying to help me understand my diet choices scientifically, this
isn't any help, as it doesn't bring any new information in (and then, if I am
correct about the timeframe, over-interprets the results). Short-term effects
aren't the same as long-term effects in a self-correcting system like a living
body.

If someone else is willing to drop the funds, let me know if they're more
specific on the timeframe involved.

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jpschorr
Here's a great response to the study from one of the icons of the
Primal/Paleo/low-carb community:

[http://www.marksdailyapple.com/high-fat-diets-make-us-
stupid...](http://www.marksdailyapple.com/high-fat-diets-make-us-stupid-lazy/)

Executive summary: This study (or at least the media's response to it)
attempts to extrapolate a 9-day study on rats to an overall implication on
human diets.

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DTrejo
>attempts to extrapolate

and fails

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vague
This article - and the abstract - are not specific enough. What kind of fat is
being used in the study? Does variety of fats make a difference? Do fats in
combination with other foods change the outcome?

My own suspicion is that all of those factors matter, and making blanket
statements on the basis of this one case is simply bad science.

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chrischen
well it can't be omega 3 right? cause Omega-3 _supposedly_ helps ADHD
sufferers with short term memory problems.

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ars
This could just as easily be the effect of fats on the sense of smell
(smelling the condensed milk, not the corridor).

Or maybe it just wasn't as hungry, and thus less motivated. Fat is well known
for giving a feeling of satiation.

~~~
chrischen
Human studies showed similar results right?

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DougBTX
As far as quantity of media coverage goes, this is the best one so far. So,
no, not that I've heard of.

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JulianMorrison
So wait, you stress half the rats by changing their diet suddenly, and the
other half you leave alone, and the stressed half under-performs, and you're
surprised?

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speek
This study is not surprising in the least.

Brain burns glucose (on a "traditional" diet). On this high-fat diet (assuming
that carbohydrates are dropped, and proteins are elevated), glucose is less
available and different fats become more abundant, so the brain starts to use
the fats as a fuel source (ketosis) instead of the glucose. This transition
becomes easier and more efficient when there are very few carbohydrates in the
diet.

Muscle fibers use glycogen (kinda the precursor to glucose) as an energy
source, so when your body doesn't have any glucose to convert into glycogen...
your body doesn't perform as well as it normally would.

Fun fact: A ketosis-based lifestyle is used by some body builders to lose body
fat rapidly and by people with epilepsy to help control seizures.

~~~
SwellJoe
It's worth noting that your explanations are _also_ conjecture based on
limited research data.

There actually aren't answers that are this clear about how our bodies use
different types of foods, but human brains are wired up to place more trust in
very precise explanations and answers. Your explanations are very precise, and
thus, we tend to want to believe them.

This explains the popularity of several fad diets based on the model you
describe. These diets may or may not be healthy ways to eat for prolonged
periods of time. We don't know, because there are several different
theoretical models for how the body processes food, and all of them are based
on various, but nearly always, limited (in time span and in sample size)
experimental data.

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fallentimes
Where's kingkongrevenge when you need him?

