On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Philip Thrift wrote:

> Too bad they didn't ask the
> "hey, what do you think if you did this with sled dogs?"
> question. Maybe they hadn't eaten enough fat/protein that day :-)

I'd like to know about the caloric loads involved in these
feedings.  It's well documented that high-fat meals cause
postprandial lipemia, as concentrations of fatty acids in the
blood increase rapidly and blood turbidity increases.  I don't
think it's all that surprising that this would cause a transient
cognitive impairment, if enough fat was ingested.  Much brain
tissue really does need glucose, and increased blood turbidity
could plausibly impede glucose transport.  If the diet is energy
balanced, however, this should only be a transient phenomenon,
subsiding as serum fatty acid levels return to baseline.  If the
diet were substantially hypercaloric, however, then the return to
baseline would be slower, so the period of increased turbidity
would be longer.

Todd Moody
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