Q. Does eating turkey makes you tired?
Common view is that turkey contain tryptophan, a biological plausible essential
amino acid which can change the levels of serotonin and melatonin leading to
tiredness
However, the amount of tryptophan in 100g of turkey is 0.3g which is the same as
what chicken has
In order for tryptophan to enter the brain, it needs to compete with other large
neutral amino acids such as leucine, isoleucine, valine, tyrosine, phenylalanine,
methionine for the transporter at the blood brain barrier. (the ratio of tryptophan to
LNAA predicts brain tryptophan and serotonin levels)
More plasma tryptophan means lower brain serotonin
A proposed mechanism for why eating turkey meal makes us tired is: When eating
turkey meal like at thanksgiving, we consume carbohydrates like potatoes, which
causes body to release insulin, turns out other LNAA are more insulin dependent
compared to tryptophan, therefore they get pushed into cells, while tryptophan goes
to the brain and produce serotonin (proposed mechanism)
Q. obese men kicked out of an all you can eat buffet. Possible explanations for them
overeating and obese?
Root cause of obesity: flavor is disappearing in this world, nutrients in food gives
metabolites and metabolites give flavors. However, companies now skip over the
nutrients and just add metabolites to food which give us “flavor”
They might be stressed, living a depressed life, since emotions (amygdala in brain)
can signal food intake center, LHA. Eating might be stress relief for them
Or they are addicted to eating: dopamine causes them to have a food addiction.
“want” – dopamine system, addiction side of things, wanting without liking
Cognition, advertisements for food ( children sees 40,000 ads per year on TV
alone)we are often thinking about eating enhance our will to eat
Portion: bigger the portion, more you eat: all you can eat???
Cognitive wise, pleasantness when eating all you can eat for a fixed price, price has
an effect on pleasantness
Q. What is Nutrition Neuroscience?
It’s the field of nutrition that relates to the central and peripheral nervous system
It includes the role of different components of normal diet (protein, fat, carb),
dietary supplements (hormones, vitamins, herbs) and food additives (artificial flavor,
colors, sweeteners) on neurochemistry, behavior and performance
Q. Friends over for dinner, give them most pleasurable experience, include reason of choice.
Visual: gastronomy- nice presentation of food- visual signals affect perception of
food
Expensive wine (tell them it is expensive) – but really it’s not, since pleasantness isnt
just a simple root from teeth or mouth or nose to the medial orbitofrontal cortex
(pleasantness center in brain), but also price and value.
Light up a candle that smells like baked cake at the dinner table, when eating
dessert, trick their brain. Since when you taste something you think its happening on
your tongue but actually happening in your nose, retro-nasal olfaction
present information before eating, such as telling them the steak was flown in from
New Zealand, sea food was from south of Italy
information before having them taste it would greatly influence their preference
Q. 5 different beers, A-blinded and B-non-blinded, what would you expect the overall results
of these two tests to be? Why would you expect them to differ or be the same?
The overall results of these two tests would not be the same, when blinded, individuals
could not taste a difference between the beers and claimed all (including their own
beer) were not significantly different from the others. However, when non-blinded,
individuals would indicate preference and that their favorite beer scores better than the
others.
Blinded individuals will believe that all beers essentially taste the same and when non-
blinded, they will pick their favorite based on their brand-loyalty (AKA beer that they
previously identified as their favorite)
As there is not a significant difference between different types of beer, companies are
not selling the flavor or taste of the beer, rather they are selling a lifestyle. Due to the
choice of a favorite beer die to identification of lifestyle rather than taste
Beer company would advertise a particular lifestyle they associate their beer with. The
beer should be targeted to a particular audience (i.e. upper scale individuals or sports
fans or those proud of their Canadian nationality) advertisement focused around selling
lifestyle rather than promoting the taste of the beer
Q. Biochemical basis of Lorenzo’s oil in adrenoleukodystrophy?
Diet and biosynthesis both contribute to the pool of saturated VLCFA, such as 24:0
and 26:0, in patients with ADL, the drainage, ABCD transporter on peroxisome is not
working bioaccumulation of VLCFA
Diet approach by eliminating all sources of VLCFA did not work, since biosynthesis
accounts for the majority for saturated VLCFA, the build up of C24:0 and C26:0
remained high
Lorenzos oil consist of oleic acid and eurucic acid, both are mono-unsaturated fatty
acids. Since both saturated fatty acids and mono-unsaturated fatty acids use the
same enzyme, the idea is to have mono-unsaturated acids (components of Lorenzo’s
oil) outcompete the saturated VLCFA decrease formation of VLCFA
Yes I would have my child go on the treatment, delay of symptoms, by then maybe
there would be a cure, working on gene therapy and stem cells now. be hopeful
Q. what supports the amyloid hypothesis of AD development and what calls into question?
Support: in mouse models, stopping amyloid synthesis thorugh stopping secretase
enzymes or through antibodies targeting amyloid-beta protein reduces severity of
AD prognosis
Question: phase 3 clinical trial, gamma secretase inhibitor (semagacestat) did not
improve cognition in those with alzheimer’s
