Does Eating Brains Make You Brainier?

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by common_sense_seeker, Jun 25, 2009.

  1. common_sense_seeker Bicho Voador & Bicho Sugador Valued Senior Member

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    "You are what you eat" is a famous saying. Could this apply to the early humans who first became bipedal after coming down from the trees? Neanderthals are famous for their large brains as well as us humans (but they didn't have the physiology to throw a stone or a spear). The early use of wooden clubs to smash open the skulls of carcasses would reveal the nutritious brains that even hyenas couldn't get to. Is this the secret of the hominids' success?

    The scavenging hominid

     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2009
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  3. domesticated om Stickler for details Valued Senior Member

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    I seem to recall hearing about various cultures eating various parts of another organism's body with the belief that it transmitted some sort of anecdotal characteristic to the consumer.

    Example - the Chinese believe monkey brains treat impotence according to the wiki
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_brain_(cuisine)

    My first assumption was that brains would be fatty, so I decided to see if I could find the nutritional content from a brain dish. I haven't found anything interesting yet.
    What sort of specific nutritional element(s) would promote or increase mental capacity?
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2009
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  5. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Not that I'm aware of. I do not know of any cultures that ate only brains for a diet.
     
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  7. takandjive Killer Queen Registered Senior Member

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    Hm, well, brains are loaded with cholesterol (and are delicious). Eating the tiny ones like bird brains would give us enough cholesterol and B12 to have better mental function. Both are necessary nutrients.
     
  8. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Eat them raw.
     
  9. Balerion Banned Banned

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    That's an interesting article, even for a layperson like me.

    So if I'm reading this right, it's saying that brain and marrow from long bones is the only way to consume enough of the specific nutrients required to develop our brain?

    That's one hell of a theory, if that's what it's saying.
     
  10. EmeraldAxe Registered Senior Member

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    How old are you?
     
  11. 8039 Registered Member

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    Just like eating babies makes you younger

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  12. common_sense_seeker Bicho Voador & Bicho Sugador Valued Senior Member

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    The evidence would indicate that the wooden club was indeed the success of the hominids. The rather gruesome truth to our past does seem to make complete sense. Even the Haitian voodoo zombie drug (derived from a poisonous fish) which has the effect of making the recipient 'want to eat brains' has some scientific foundation!



    If it wasn't for modern human beings, then I guess chimpanzees and bonobos would also take this evolutionary path since they have the rudimentary use of tools which is a prerequisite for successful bipedalism in the African plains. One club in each hand would be a lot more effective and an advantage over the true quadrapeds, such as lion, hyena and baboon. These creatures have to fall back on to all fours at some point. In theory, a chimpanzee could hold a wooden club or branch in each hand at the same time as walking on it's knuckles. This would be a quick reaction posture with a frenzied double blow from the two clubs, one held in each hand. An effective defensive and fighting force.
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2009
  13. Balerion Banned Banned

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    Not necessarily. I don't see the article as claiming that eating brains is the difference between a chimp and a man. I think it is saying that it was the difference between man and, say, Homo erectus.
     
  14. common_sense_seeker Bicho Voador & Bicho Sugador Valued Senior Member

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    Neanderthals were supposed to have bigger brains than H. sapiens though, so big brains were a factor right from the beginning, I think.
     
  15. CapsOwn Registered Senior Member

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    Lol, I'm going to be very unscientific for a second, but this discussion sounds like a highlander movie. =p
     
  16. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    BARP! Where does this statement come from? Neanderthals carried spears, so you cannot rule out that they sometimes threw them. They probably never had bows, those emerging as Neanderthals were becoming extinct, but that is a different argument.


    Er, Neanderthals were hominids?

    So early humans ancestors ate brains. So what? When bears get full, after gorging themselves on Salmon, they just eat the head, then just the eyes, to fill up on nutritional goodness. It's no surprise our ancestors could sniff out good nutrition, just because we find it unpalatable now.
     
  17. Xylene Valued Senior Member

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    True, but Neanderthal brains didn't have the covolutions of H. Sapiens brains, nor (one assumes) did they gave all the neural connections of their more advanced successors.
     
  18. common_sense_seeker Bicho Voador & Bicho Sugador Valued Senior Member

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    You just don't seem to get it. Hominid success due to clubs smashing open carcass skulls = big brains. Human success due to physiology of throwing action, which evolved due to unique river estuary environment. I'll find the source of the 'Neanderthal unable to throw' statement when I look through my notes at home.

    What evidence is there of this statement? You're assuming that even though Neanderthals are proven to have bigger brains than us, they must have been less effective in mental activity? Big assumption.
     
  19. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    interesting thought. for the first time you MIGHT be partually correct. the only freely avialable source of the essential fatty acids that i know of is shellfish. however as it makes up the majorty of brains (im assuming its other species brains are the same as ours) it would make sense that brains would be a good soure to
     
  20. common_sense_seeker Bicho Voador & Bicho Sugador Valued Senior Member

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    Thanks. I appreciate the consideration of this simple idea.
     
  21. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    If your 'river ape' hypothesis is correct, wouldn't they have been eating fish brains? So no need to club skulls open!
     
  22. common_sense_seeker Bicho Voador & Bicho Sugador Valued Senior Member

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    Please read the quote from post#9.
     
  23. Balerion Banned Banned

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    Studies indicate that the average brain size of Neanderthals was actually smaller than ours. And no, Neanderthals could not making throwing spears, which is likely one of the biggest reasons they lost out on resources to us.
     

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