This is Your Brain on… Bacon?!?
I couldn’t resist sharing with you a piece from NPR’s health blog called “Why Bacon Is a Gateway Meat for Vegetarians.” And it involves the brain… so read on!
According to Johan Lundstrom from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, bacon has a very fundamental appeal for humans. First, Lundstrom explains that the high fat and protein content of bacon bacon meets an evolutionary need for calories. He goes on to explain that 90% of what we taste is odor, and bacon’s “aggressive smell” suggests just how good it will be. Smell, emotion and memory are inextricably linked. Add hunger and the familiar setting of weekend breakfasts to the scent of sizzling bacon in the skillet, and you have a set of powerful stimuli that urges the brain to act.
And indeed, people do act! The piece recounts anecdotes of a few vegetarians who have been seduced by bacon–but that’s neither here nor there for me personally*. I was simply struck by how smell, emotion and memory can conspire in our brains to dramatically shift behavior. Even with something as simple as bacon.
*Full disclosure—I love bacon. I love it so much I even make my own. If this sounds like you and you’d like to give it a go, the recipe I use is demonstrated here by Karen Solomon. Her book (complete with bacon recipe) is Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It.
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Posted: Memory, Neuroscience, Research studies
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January 31st, 2011 at 11:48 pm
Hi Sharon,
I’m a brain hacker and Post Science user. Wiley Publishing is about to publish my new book about how to have a higher IQ baby: http://www.betterbabybook.com. My wife (a physician) and me (an antiaging nutritionist type) looked at 1300 references to scientific studies to create our program.
Guess what? Bacon is on the diet. If it’s not overcooked, and it comes from healthy animals, the saturated fat and omega 3 oils are satisfying, and help youngsters stay in a mild state of ketosis, which is necessary for them to build new brain connections until they’re about 7.
Bacon is also on the Bulletproof Executive diet http://www.bulletproofexecutive.com/umbacon-awareness-week-anyone which helped me to lose 100lbs 15 years ago and keep it off ever since. I’m about to review Posit on that blog too.
Score one for bacon!
February 1st, 2011 at 10:59 am
This is Fantastic. Cheers.
February 1st, 2011 at 5:05 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by D. Bunnell and Dave Asprey, Posit Science. Posit Science said: wonder why you can't resist bacon?! It's all in your brain!! http://ht.ly/3NIdk [...]