Do Low-Carb Diets Affect Brain Function?

Web MD has an article today, stating that low-carb diets may impair brain function. Read it here.

The article is as interesting as the study, which only followed participants for three weeks. Participants were tested on short- and long-term memory and attention three times during the study. I'm not sure you can come to any firm conclusions on anything after only three weeks, but these scientists have tried.

To me, the study's results are in line with what I know of how carbohydrates affect the human body. Read the fine print on any program recommending low-carb living, and you will see that advocates believe it takes 10 to 14 days to wean the body from reliance on simple carbohydrates. Withdrawal symptoms include irritability, sluggishness, lethargy and difficulty concentrating. Once the body has recovered from its withdrawal, usually people find themselves more alert, energetic and able to multi-task.

So if participants in this study only limited their carb intake for a week, it would stand to reason that they'd be in the midst of withdrawal symptoms when researchers tested their brain function. A week later, after resuming carbohydrate consumption, those symptoms would be gone.

From the "duh" files...

SAN DIEGO -- Though I appreciate the time and effort taken in researching obesity and bariatric procedures and outcomes, some studies make me shake my head in wonder.

For instance, comparing the success rate of bariatric surgery to commercial weight loss programs seems ridiculous. After all, does anybody really think counting POINTS! can hold a candle to rerouting one's digestive tract to reduce capacity and nutrient absorption? That doesn't even seem logical to me, much less a wise use of funding.

Here are two of what I'd call "duh" studies that were presented at the convention this week:

* Bariatric surgery makes people more sensitive to alcohol -- I don't think any of us with gastric bypass needed Stanford researchers to tell us that our rerouted intestinal tract makes us cheap dates when it comes to running a bar tab.
Dr. John Morton, assistant professor of surgery and senior author of the study, was quoted in today's Science Daily as saying, "I've heard the anecdotes of a patient who will drink one glass of wine and get a DUI, but I wanted to know if there is really a difference before and after the surgery."
Dr. Morton later says in the article that most patients aren't aware of this and that Oprah has done the field a favor by pointing it out on her show about the dangers of cross-addiction. I don't know about the rest of the post-ops in the world, but I discovered that fact the first time I tried wine after surgery. I didn't need Oprah or a study to enlighten me. Furthermore, I had been warned by other post-ops about the phenomena long before I ever had surgery, so I don't think it's as big of a mystery as Dr. Morton professes.

* Binge eating and a sweet tooth lead to gastric-band failures -- Just to make sure we're all on the same page here, a team of Swiss researchers reported that those post-ops who binged on food or indulged in sweets experienced a higher incidence of band failure than those who did not. The conclusion? The best candidates for banding are highly motivated patients who don't binge or eat sweets. Wouldn't you say the same thing for any type of bariatric procedure?