Interesting info on gut-brain connection in evolutionary theory

[Guest guest]

For those into evolutionary theory: I've been re-reading

Wrangham's book on evolution and human violence and I picked up

something I missed the first few times I read it (it's that good).

One primary theory about how the human brain became larger since we

first walked out of the rainforest on two legs is that we adapted to

eat foods which are more easily digestible. Meat eating is another

part of this theory, but the " freeing up of metabolic energy " was

important, apparently, because primate metabolism could only sustain

a brain of increasing size if another organ system was " compromised " ,

in terms of the enormous amount of energy an enlarged (and smarter)

brain consumed to operate. The organ which was compromised for the

sake of brain development in humans was seemingly the gut. Our guts

are much smaller than that of our ape ancestor, the chimpanzee.

Chimps eat massive amounts of foods which, to humans, would be

metabolically of poor quality (though probably healthier than a Big

Mac), very difficult or even impossible for us to digest. We've lost

the ability to utilize these foods.

It made me wonder if one small reason why many of us see our children

improve when their guts heal is that the injured gut was using

massive amounts of metabolic energy which was being robbed from the

brain. Once healed, the brain can reinherit that energy. Obviously

the whole cascade of damage and the existance of neurotoxicity is way

more complex than this, but I found it very interesting.

One of the " pieces of the puzzle " (anyone else getting SICK of that

phrase?) which organizations like AS never seem to look into or

entertain, so we all end theorizing ourselves-- for better or worse.