Re: Pamela Anderson's frontal, uh, cortex
Sep 15, 2008
By Steve Cornett
Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.
That’s the lede on the story in the Times of India, citing a study at Oxford University, and offering a fairly obvious explanation for much of what PETA’s favorite bimbo Pamela Anderson has to say when she gets her front in front of a TV camera.
At first I presumed that the scientists may have confused cause and effect—that having a small brain might make you more inclined to be a vegetarian. It's my studied opinion that bimbo types tend to get into faddish things. But when you read on, it says, nope, it’s sure enough the no meat thing that makes you dumb, not vice versa:
Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.
The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.
When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.
Not that we didn’t suspect it, mind you. It’s just good to have proof.
