What question did this study set out to answer?

To measure the metabolic costs of the growing human brain from birth to adulthood and evaluate whether high brain energy demands constrain body growth rates.

August 25, 2014Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesOpen Access

Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development

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To measure the metabolic costs of the growing human brain from birth to adulthood and evaluate whether high brain energy demands constrain body growth rates.
Combined previously collected PET and MRI data to calculate brain glucose utilization across development from birth to adulthood.
Computed brain glucose uptake as proportions of resting metabolic rate (glucosermr%) and daily energy requirements (glucoseder%) in glucose-gram equivalents.
Analyzed developmental trade-offs by comparing brain glucose uptake percentages against body-weight growth rates (dw/dt).
Brain glucose requirements peaked during childhood (66.3% of RMR and 43.3% of DER in males; 65.0% of RMR and 43.8% of DER in females) rather than at birth (52.5% and 59.8% of RMR; 35.4% and 38.7% of DER).
Body-weight growth rate (dw/dt) and brain glucose demands demonstrated a strong inverse relationship throughout development.
Peak brain glucose demand coincided with the lowest body-weight growth rate, followed by reciprocal increases in body growth as brain metabolic demands declined toward puberty.

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Implication

Metabolic analysis reveals peak brain glucose demands during childhood in humans, suggesting that high neural energy costs require compensatory slowing of body growth.

Cite This Study

Kuzawa et al. (2014) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a0063e56018b8d0892db842 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1323099111

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Implication

Metabolic analysis reveals peak brain glucose demands during childhood in humans, suggesting that high neural energy costs require compensatory slowing of body growth.

Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development

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Implication

Cite This Study

Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

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