Pastor’s Nexus

What you eat affects more than physical health. Two new studies have added to the growing evidence linking the stomach and the brain.

In a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers studied how junk food can trigger addiction behaviors. The brain chemical corticotropin-releasing-factor, CRF, is linked to motivation, and plays a role in drug and alcohol withdrawal and relapse. Researchers had rats eat normal food, then binge on sugar and chocolate-flavored snacks. When the rats went off the junk, they expressed CRF, just as do rats going through withdrawal. The rodents also had more anxiety and were less interested in normal food.

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Source: “Diet and the Brain”, Scientific American

Wisdom increases with age, research says: “NEW findings seem to contradict one of the most widely accepted assumptions about ageing: that the human brain is at its most powerful between the ages of 18 and 26.”