This isn’t great news for dieters, but sometimes sugar can be a good thing. Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, had subjects perform a mentally taxing task – watching a video while being careful to ignore random words scrolling across the bottom of the screen. (Apparently, it takes quite a bit of concentration to NOT look at the scrolling words.) Then, the subjects were given a drink of lemonade and asked to perform another cognitively demanding task, choose an apartment based on descriptions of various options.
The catch was that some subjects drank lemonade made with real sugar, and others had lemonade made with Splenda, a sugar substitute without nutritional value. The performance differences on the apartment task were surprising.
Baumeister reported that the students who received the sugar-free lemonade were significantly more likely to choose impulsively and make poor decisions on the apartment task. He attributed this to the exhaustion of the prefrontal cortex in all subjects. The subjects who got the sugar were able to better restore function to that area of the brain. (Fifteen minutes was allowed to elapse after consuming the lemonade to permit the sugar to reach the brain.)
According to Jonah Lehrer, who reports on this work in How We Decide,
This research can also help explain why we get cranky when we’re hungry and tired: the brain is less able to suppress the negative emotions sparked by small annoyances. A bad mood is really just a run-down prefrontal cortex.
As a sugar-avoider, I find this research interesting. Maybe in addition to the caffeine in my black coffee and Coke Zero, a little shot of sugar now and them might keep my brain sharper. Add this finding to the work I described in Diet Drinks Don’t Fool the Brain, and it’s enough to make one go back to The Real Thing.
(Shutterstock image)
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October 29th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Wow, I’m going to go load up on pere Halloween Candy. Thanks NeuroMarketing!
October 30th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Eating sugar isn’t the only way to get enough glucose to the brain. You could eat a fruit, a natural juice… perhaps a cake. Or you could eat large amounts of pasta.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Sugar is good only for 20 minutes because it triggers insulin response. After that the glucose levels in blood crash usually below normal.
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/glycaemic-index.htm
November 4th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
You have to be careful when you present partial findings such as this one, they can be very misleading. As Alecco said, sugar is only good for 20 minutes among other bad things that come from eating sugar. The pre-frontal cortex gets its energy from Oxygen. A much better source of oxygen is water. Staying hydrated is one of the best things you can do for your overall energy levels. As for caffeine, the “sharpness” you perceive by the rush of the caffeine has little to do with an increase in your mental ability. Caffeine activates the adrenal glands which release cortisol into the bloodstream. That triggers a flight response in the brain. This draws the energy from the pre-frontal cortex to activate the areas in the brain that are responsible for your flight response. Yes, caffeine picks you up, but it doesn’t help you in better decision making.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I was actually avoiding sugars because my Dad is diabetic and I’m afraid of being one as well. Maybe I was taking it too seriously. I never though sugar could be a brain food. I need to share this post…thanks.
November 6th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I wouldn’t get carried away, Karen. The fact that sugar provides a short-lived cognitive boost for a tired brain doesn’t make it good for you!
Roger
November 12th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
This study is flawed. The group that did more poorly could have done so not because they didn’t get sugar, but because they were negatively effected by having Splenda.