Society’s preoccupation with weight management produces a myriad of advice on keeping our waistlines tiny and our biceps toned, while our body’s most complex organ—and the nutri-tion required to keep it running smoothly—is often overlooked. !ough it consists of only two percent of the average person’s body mass, the human brain accounts for twenty percent of our energy consumption (Nixon "##$). Because of the nutritional toll the brain takes on our bodies and the vital role it plays in our lives, it is absolutely essential that we tailor our diet to our brain’s needs.

It turns out the empirical practice of fueling late-night essay writ-ing with the occasional “study snack” is fairly legitimate. !ough even the most nutritious food cannot replace a good night’s rest, a regular supply of carbohydrates—the large, energy-packed mol-ecules found in fruits, vegetables and grains—will keep the brain from su%ering the hazy e%ects of low blood sugar. Unlike our muscles and other organs, the gray matter of our brain respon-sible for complex thought is particularly picky about its energy source. Simply put, the brain just can’t do its job without easily accessible energy; only glucose (blood sugar) will do. And yet, paradoxically, “stressful” spikes of high glucose can be damaging to the body’s tissues. Fueling the brain in a healthy way therefore requires maintain-ing a delicate balance. Fortunately, that balance is neatly pack-aged in many natural sources of carbohydrates. !e key to satisfy-ing the brain’s needs while keeping the rest of the body healthy lies in paying close attention to the glycemic index—a system of ranking food based on how quickly it raises your blood sugar. Carbohydrates placed high on the glycemic index—like candy and white bread—may provide the brain the energy it needs but also cause a harsh &ux of sugar in the blood. It is a far wiser choice to choose foods low on the glycemic index—like whole grains, fruits and vegetables—which provide adequate energy over time (Nixon "##$, TFIO "##').

Supplying your brain with energy in the short term alone can-not ensure brain health throughout your lifespan. Because much of the critical development the brain undergoes occurs during childhood, the brain is particularly sensitive to the nutrition it re-ceives at this time, and many studies have shown that the proper diet at a young age can have lasting e%ects on mental capabilities. !ough there is still a lot of controversy surrounding the issue, a breadth of evidence supports the assertion that breastfeeding is a great example of early nutrition contributing to brain health. A blend of important salts and nutrients, breast milk’s e%ects have been empirically and statistically observed. In a research study in which children were given a series of cognitive tests, children who were breast-fed as infants scored an average of eight points higher than bottle-fed children (Medina "#(().

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When early man rummaged his environment for wild berries and hunted for bison, he would settle for anything that was edible and seemingly safe. Meals were evaluated not by their culinary intricacy but by the amount of energy they provided minus the amount of energy required to obtain them. Food was fuel. Food was food. But those were the good old days… In the modern world, this antiquated—and biologically obvi-ous—model of eating is far too simple. For many of us, the word “food” does not particularly bring to mind the calories that satisfy our daily energy needs or the vitamins and minerals that keep our hair strong and our eyes functioning. Instead, many of us think of how much we love to eat and the essential role food plays in our economy, culture, and everyday lives. We think of our favorites, whether they are the components of a )ve-star, three-course meal or one’s favorite sugary cereal. We think of the emotions associ-ated with what we eat—the comfort of cuddling up with a bowl of mother-made mac n’ cheese or the excitement of trying eel sushi for the )rst time. Our species has complicated food to an extraordinary degree, and we have our brains to blame.

Anyone who has ever heard their stomach rumble in a quiet morning classroom after skipping breakfast might disagree that hunger could be ruled by anything other than the pesky digestive system. In fact, a good number of researchers have speculated on which body system has the greatest in&uence on hunger, and these hypotheses have produced some interesting experiments. In ($(", physiologist W.B. Cannon had his associate and grad-uate student, A. L. Washburn, skip meals and then swallow a bal-loon attached to a tube. To test his “stomach contraction theory” of hunger, the balloon was in&ated so that Washburn no lon-ger felt hungry. (We can only hope he was awarded some extra credit!) In a similarly extreme experiment, P.A. Bash tested his “glucose theory” by giving starved dogs blood transfusions from well-fed dogs. Bash postulated that high blood glucose makes us feel full and was no doubt pleased to see that the treated dogs no longer seemed to search for food (Hara ($$*). Other experiments and theories suggest that hormones, heat production, and other internal biological factors also play a large role in notifying us that we need food. However, the desire to eat occurs in humans more often than when we are responding to the biological needs of our metabolism. And for a better understand-ing of this desire, we turn not to our stomach or our blood or our endocrine system, but to our own minds and the complexity that lies within. In "#(#, researchers in the John B. Pierce Laboratory at the Yale School of Medicine published their )ndings after conduct-ing a long study questioning the brain’s response to taste. Us-ing functional MRI scans—a method of neurological imaging that allows scientists to see patients’ brains respond to stimuli in real time—these researchers were able to identify and better understand areas of the brain directly related to responding to food. !ey found that the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex were two areas chie&y responsible in the neurological process of eating (Wohl "#((). Continued on page !"

However, bottle-fed children need not be distressed about missing out on this head start; nature provides us a variety of other foods that our brains can bene)t from after infancy. As the brain develops in childhood and adolescence (and renews itself throughout adulthood), it uses fatty acids to create large, intricate, specialized cells called neurons as well as protective myelin tissue. In fact, fatty acids compose about sixty percent of our brains. Two speci)c fatty acids in particular—DHA and AA—are crucial to brain development in fetuses and infants, and de)cits of DHA and AA have been linked to many neurological defects. !ough they are best absorbed in early childhood, fatty acids bene)t the brain at all stages of life (some studies support that they may help prevent or treat Parkinson’s disease, depression and other disor-ders) and can be found primarily in )sh, nuts, seeds and other sources of unsaturated or “healthy” fats. !e brain also bene)ts from an early intake of amino acids. !ese building blocks of protein play a large role in creating neurotransmitters, which are hugely important chemicals in the brain that facilitate communication between neurons. Amino ac-ids come from a variety of sources but are most abundantly found in protein-rich food. !is is just one reason that children should have a protein-packed diet to help build their rapidly growing bodies and rapidly developing brains (TFIO "##').

Because the brain has so many speci)c nutritional needs, scien-tists have identi)ed an assortment of foods that contain highly concentrated doses of nutrients that bene)t the brain. “Super-foods”—the term used to describe them and other highly nu-tritious foods that bene)t the body as a whole—has become a popular buzzword in scienti)c journalism because of the enthu-siasm with which many specialists encourage us to include them in our diets. Superfoods tend to gain their tremendous reputation for promoting brain health by having an abundant supply of all or some of the nutrients the brain craves: unsaturated fat for build-ing its cells, protein for uniting its components with neurotrans-mitters, complex carbohydrates for energy, and micronutrients for preventing the deterioration of its tissues (TFIO "##'). However extraordinary they may seem, most of these super-foods can be conveniently found in the dining hall for nearly ev-ery meal. A breakfast of green tea, fresh blueberries and a whole grain bagel, for example, provides potent supply of antioxidants (a powerful micronutrient that helps prevent tissue deterioration and cancer) from the tea and berries and enough complex car-bohydrates in the bagel to keep you focused through your morn-ing classes and protected from memory loss in years to come. At lunchtime, sitting down to a zesty salmon )let and some guaca-mole and pita chips is an excellent way to get a healthy dose of fatty acids and protein. Rounding the day o% with a dinner of whole grain pasta drizzled with olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes and a side salad covered in nuts and seeds will once again refuel you with complex carbohydrates, micronutrients from the toma-toes, and the appropriate fats and amino acids in the nuts and seeds (Sorgen "##+).

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BlueberriesSalmon

Nuts & SeedsAvocado

Whole GrainsBeans

PomegranateGreen Tea

Dark Chocolate

!e amygdala is a small bulb located in the core of the brain—the limbic system, a structure we share with many other animals with less evolved brains and that is traditionally associated with our primal urges and instincts. !e amygdala itself is involved in helping us remember our emotions, especially fear (Black "##().!e Pierce Laboratory team found that the amygdala seems to be the driving force between detecting the “&avor intensity” of certain foods and “inducing the desire to eat more.” !is is a dis-tinctly di%erent—though related—process from the orbitofron-tal cortex’s involvement in assessing &avor. While the amygdala controls “desire,” the orbitofrontal cortex is located in the highly evolved human “gray matter” and is involved in decision-making. !e Pierce Laboratory team describes the orbitofrontal cortex’s job as detecting “how ‘pleasant’ a food is” after processing the )ve elements of &avor the senses recognize while eating: taste, smell, temperature, texture, and spiciness (Wohl "#((). However, the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex are only two areas of the brain directly involved in responding to food. When human beings eat, their brains must do far more than assess the tastiness of food in a universal process common to everyone. If that were the case, how could )sh be delicious to some and dis-gusting to others? !e answer to such questions requires a more psychological perspective.

In a memorable scene from "##'’s fast-food documentary, Super Size Me, director Morgan Spurlock jokes about “punching my kids in the face every time we pass a McDonald’s” in order to counteract the corporation’s attempts at marketing to children (Spurlock "##'). !ough a bit crass, Mr. Spurlock just may have been onto something. Conditioning—learning behaviors in asso-ciation with particular stimuli—is one of the most powerful and somewhat unexpected in&uences on what, when, and how we eat. One of the most extreme—and yet very common—examples of classical conditioning applied to eating is taste aversion to a speci)c food after contracting food poisoning. A person who unknowingly eats expired vegetable dip—the “stimulus”—and feels the cruel e%ects of food poising an hour or two later may not touch the stu% for several years. !e extreme avoidance of a food associated with illness is the “learned behavior” that then continues to in&uence this person’s hunger and food preferences (Smith "##"). Taste aversion, however, is not just a psychological &uke that makes us detest once-loved foods. Hunger is based on learning, and it’s no accident that the structures in our brain that control hunger and eating are also associated with memory. We have evolved this response to protect ourselves from pathogens, spoiled food, and becoming sick in the future. If we remember not to eat things that can make us sick, we can adopt a “fool me once, shame on you” mentality. !e same psychological principles that explain why we avoid certain foods also help illuminate why some of us have strong preferences for others. !e aforementioned close link between taste, smell, and memory often helps us connect emotions to the food we eat. Conditioned preferences are the reason corpora-tions like McDonald’s focus so much on advertising to children, why restaurants try to create a memorable atmosphere, and why chocolate chip cookies make you homesick for Grandma’s house. Human beings are creatures of habit and will associate happiness with certain foods and certain foods with happiness (Hara ($$*).

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While you’re swallowing your morning regimen of preventative, antioxidant multivitamins with a glass of milk to prevent osteo-porosis, consider your brain for a moment. Just as children bene)t from certain food as they grow, adults can ease the brain’s aging process by maintaining a healthy diet rich in superfoods. Even with the recent spike of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in the last century, aging should never mean surrendering your mental faculties as luxuries of the past. Re-searchers at the USDA Human Research Center on Aging have discovered that one of the most powerful tools available in pre-venting the negative e%ects of aging on the brain are the previ-ously mentioned micronutrients, antioxidants. !ese researchers have also developed a breakthrough assessment technique called the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, which can be used to rank how antioxidant-packed certain foods are. Top-ping the list were fruits and some vegetables, including blueber-ries (with the highest ORAC value), black plums, sweet cherries, navel oranges, avocado and red grapes (Schulze "#(().

Of course, it is important to mention that food alone—no matter how “super”—cannot make someone intelligent. !at would be the equivalent of guzzling protein shakes without the intent of actually lifting weights. !ough proper nutrition signi)-cantly ampli)es its e%ects, there is really only one way to capital-ize on your brain’s potential: use it! Socialize, read, write, and do arithmetic! Keep yourself psychologically well. Relish the excite-ment of acute stressful episodes and avoid the exhausting cycle of chronic stress. Expose yourself to new, fascinating things and learn every day. An active brain thrives on proper nutrition, yes, but activating it is up to you; mental )tness builds in both the classroom and the cafeteria. •

Medina, John. “Breast-Feeding Debate Closed? Brain Science Weighs In.”,Breaking News and Opinion on !e Hu-ngton Post. ". Jan. "#((. Web. <http://www.hu-ngtonpost.com/john-me-dina-phd/breastfeeding-debate-brain-development_b_+#**.+.html>.

Nixon, Robin. “Brain Food: How to Eat Smart.”,Live Science. * Jan. "##$. Web. <http://www.livescience.com//(+.-brain-food-eat-smart.html>.

Schulze, Deb. “Food and the Aging Brain.”,!e Baltimore Sun. " Feb. "#((. Web. <http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/health/)t-ness/"#((/#"/food_and_the_aging_brain.html>.

Sorgen, Carol. “Best Brain Foods for Brain Function, Health, and Memory.”,WebMD - Better Information. Better Health.,(+ Dec. "##+. Web. <http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/eat-smart-healthier-brain>.

!e Franklin Institute Online. “!e Human Brain - Brain Food Pyramid.”,Resources for Science Learning. !e Franklin Insti-tute, "##'. Web. <http://).edu/learn/brain/pyramid.html>.

Some of the most recent and fascinating research done on the brain and eating suggests that brain chemicals have a surprising involvement in our response to food. A study published earlier this year in the journal Obesity has even implicated dopamine—a neurotransmitter associated with “reward and motivation”—as a culprit in binge eating behavior. !is study, conducted at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, mea-sured dopamine spikes in the brains of obese binge-eaters and obese people who did not binge eat. !e spikes were found to be dramatic in the former group and mostly absent in the lat-ter (DOE "#((). One conclusion of this study and others like it could be that our brains can process food as if it is an addic-tive substance. Of course, there is plenty of controversy over the phrase “food addiction,” and for good reason. Certainly, it would be unreasonable to ask a “food addict” to quit cold turkey. Still, many abnormalities in eating behavior—from binge eat-ing to anorexia nervosa—can be traced back to having chemi-cal or psychological origins in the brain. !is is one reason why many prominent neuroscientists in this )eld of study assert that the controls of eating are best studied primarily through behav-ioral neuroscience, rather than with a strict focus on our meta-bolic needs (Smith "###). It can be ba0ing to observe how our minds can override what our bodies seem to require—driving us to overindulge in nutritionally horrendous foods… or not eat at all. Ironically, listening to our bodies may be the brightest choice of all. •

Black, Harvey. “!e Amygdala’s Inner Workings.”, !e Good Drug Guide. !e Scientist, ( Oct. "##(. Web. <http://biopsychia-try.com/amygdala.htm>.

DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory. “Binge eaters’ dopamine levels spike at sight, smell of food.” ScienceDaily, "+ Feb. "#((. Web. * Oct. "#((.

Hara, Takako. “Hunger and Eating.” California State Uni-versity, Northbridge. ($$*. Web. 1 Oct. "#((. http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy##h/students/hunger.htm.

Smith, Gerard P. “!e Controls of Eating: a Shift from Nutri-tional Homeostasis to Behavioral Neuroscience.”,Nutrition,(..(# ("###): +('-"#.,ScienceDirect. Web. . Oct. "#((.

Smith, Gerard P., and Nori Geary. “!e Behavioral Neuroscience of Eating.” Neuropsychopharmacology: !e Fifth Generation of Progress. Ed. Kenneth L. Davis. (st ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, "##". (..1-.*/. Print.

Super Size Me. Dir. Morgan Spurlock. "##'.

Wohl, Shirlee. “!e Experience of Eating.”,Yale Scienti)c Maga-zine | !e Nation’s Oldest College Science Publication. / Apr. "#((. Web. <http://www.yalescienti)c.org/"#((/#'/the-experi-ence-of-eating/>.