Martin Bansbach wrote:
>>Just about every biochemistry textbook will state that the brain uses
mostly ketone bodies for energy during starvation but I'm not sure that
this has ever been proven (it's mostly by inference).<<
It has actually been proven in patients with type I Glycogen Storage
Disease. These patients are persistently hypoglycemic and have very high
lactic acid levels. When lactate content of the carotid artery was
compared to the lactate content of the jugular vain in these patients,
it was found to be higher in the carotid. This is exactly trhe opposite
from the normal situation, where lactate in the jugular is greater than
in the carotid as a result of the brain converting glucose into lactate.
Anyway, these patients have induced the enzymatic pathways to use
lactate instead of glucose for energy production in the brain. This is
how they tolerate extremely low glucose levels without major ill-effects
to their mentation.
!^NavFont02F031C0006RGHHJeBEF7
--
- Magda Plewinska, MD
Genetics/ Miami, FL, USA
