Keeping Your Brain Young and Healthy

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Carol_Chuang/545843]Carol Chuang

The human brain is an extremely complex organ. Despite rapid scientific progress, the knowledge about how the brain works in still evolving.

The brain contains about 100 billion neurons, which are highly specialized nerve cells responsible for communicating information throughout the body. For each neuron, there are roughly anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses. A synapse is the connection between neurons that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron. Hormones and neurotransmitters are examples of chemical signals.

The old adage of humans only using 10% of our brain is not true. Every part of the brain has a known function. Humans continue to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity. When you learn something new, your brain undergoes physical changes. The brain keeps growing in the frontal and temporal lobes well into middle-age, which can be associated with better emotional development and wisdom.

Sugar Facts and Why Fructose Is a Poison

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Norma_Holt/270038]Norma Holt

Wow! I never expected to discover that fructose, the sugar component in many fruits, is a poison. An online lecture by Dr. Robert H. Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist and an expert in obesity, spells it out as a wake up call for everyone. While the complicated biochemistry will be a little hard for many to follow who have no knowledge of it, the video is compulsory viewing to eliminated ignorance and expose what the food industry is about.

The 90-minute expose delves deep enough into the biochemistry to awaken even the most hardened minds. With so many of our foods going through processing it has taken the wind out of my sails to learn how much toxins are fed to us through supermarkets and the junk food industry.