Carbs/Brain Function?

[Jello]

Someone posted on another board that you have to have 50g of carbs a day for proper brain function. Any truth to this, or just misinformed?

If he's misinformed could someone post a link to back it up so I don't just have to say "Hey you're wrong"

[JayV]

Someone posted on another board that you have to have 50g of carbs a day for proper brain function. Any truth to this, or just misinformed?

If he's misinformed could someone post a link to back it up so I don't just have to say "Hey you're wrong"

Just tell him "No you're wrong"

[Jello]

Just tell him "No you're wrong"

Yeah, was looking for something a little more substantial

[figurebre]

was it me that posted it?
because thats what I have always been led to believe.

[Frosty]

The brain does not require dietary carbs to function. It can run on ketones or glucose created by gluconeogenesis.

Otherwise I would have died when I've had times eating zero carbs if my brain failed to function because of it.

[Tatyana]

The brain can switch to ketones, however, that is considered to be an emergency survival process that occurs during starvation.

If you are eating, your body will make 20-200 g of glucose from other precursors, such as the glycerol backbone of triglyceride, the glucogenic amino acids, and lactate, depending on your diet through the process of gluconeogenesis, which is closely resembles the reverse of the central pathway in metabolism, glycolysis.

[GottaGetLean]

there is no such thing as an essential carb so i would have to agree with frosty..

[Tatyana]

there is no such thing as an essential carb so i would have to agree with frosty..

People have misconceptions about the differences between carbohydrates as fuel and the function of carbohydrates in the body.

Carbohydrate biochemistry in incredibly complicated, it makes amino acid synthesis look like elementary school science.

Your immune system would not work without the carbohydrate moieties on the surface of every cell, for example, the ABO blood groupings are due to the different types of carbohydrates on the cell surface.

Some of the most complex molecules in our bodies are carbohydrates, including glycosaminoglycans and mucopolysaccharides, which are essential for healthy joint function (think chondrotin and hyaluronan, both complex carbs).

100 years ago, we didn't know about essential micronutrients, essential fatty acids are also a fairly recent discovery.

Don't be so certain that there are not essential carbohydrates, however, they are not going to be what most people think of as carbohydrates (wheat, rice etc).

I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that there are essential carbohydrates, but they will probably be the carbs that are found in very small quantities in some fibrous vegetables and mushrooms.

[Tatyana]

The brain does not require dietary carbs to function. It can run on ketones or glucose created by gluconeogenesis.

Otherwise I would have died when I've had times eating zero carbs if my brain failed to function because of it.

What does a diet look like that has zero carbs in it?

Are you eating only meat and oil?

[Jello]

was it me that posted it?
because thats what I have always been led to believe.

No, unless you are pretending to be a guy on another board

The brain can switch to ketones, however, that is considered to be an emergency survival process that occurs during starvation.

If you are eating, your body will make 20-200 g of glucose from other precursors, such as the glycerol backbone of triglyceride, the glucogenic amino acids, and lactate, depending on your diet through the process of gluconeogenesis, which is closely resembles the reverse of the central pathway in metabolism, glycolysis.

Thanks, this should do for now, but keep posting if anyone has anything to add to this.

[Frosty]

What does a diet look like that has zero carbs in it?

Are you eating only meat and oil?

Yes meat and oil. Not the most exciting diet but sometimes I do it.

[Frosty]

This reminds me of how people tend to think on a keto diet that glycogen stores are ZERO. It just isn't true since there are many substrates the body can use to produce glucose, like Tatyana said lactate, different amino acids, and the glycerol backbone of a fat molecule. Even when eating a theoretical zero carb diet with no carb meals at all you'll still have glycogen because of this, and just like on a theoretical zero carb diet the body can produce glucose needed for brain function and for other things that require glucose for energy. This is just an envolutionary adaptation because especially in hard winters there was hardly any carbohydrate sources available and these adaptations were needed for survival. Even eating all the guts of an animal doesn't supply much in the way of carbohydrates.

[Rattbones]

I boxed for many years and had to go on no carb diets for weeks at a time to cut weight, never had a problems, and you still need to be sharp to fight.
However, it is believed the Duk Koo Kim died from brain trauma in a fight with Ray Mancini because his brain fluid was so low from such a diet

[Frosty]

Well I can say from my own experience my brain functions very well on very low carbs. Maybe it's just my metabolism but I function very well in all respects on very low carb...mentally, physically, emotionally, and in terms of results.

[Pink!ron]

Im in college and had to take physiological chem last semester....my teacher mentioned that, once the body switches over to using ketones, the body/brain can only run on ketones for a certain amount of time, but i cant remember what he said...it was somewhere between 1-3 months. is there any truth to this?