r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Mar 03 '25

Neuroscience Chewing different materials affects the brain and a new study found that chewing on wood (wooden tongue depressors), compared to chewing gum, led to a significant increase in a natural brain antioxidant called glutathione, and better performance on memory tasks.

https://www.psypost.org/chewing-wood-may-boost-memory-and-brain-antioxidants-study-finds/
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u/BuffaloInTheRye Mar 03 '25

This is a wild assumption and totally out there, but I’m wondering if in our early days our brains kind of had to kick it into a higher gear whenever we were gnawing on harder materials like say a bone. Probably mean we were low on resources and had to use our strongest attribute more effectively

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u/OkLie74 Mar 04 '25

I think a slightly less wild and out there assumption is that our brain rewards eating less tasty/appealing woody plant materials that (usually) provide us with necessary nutrients, instead of just always eating leaves, fruit, and meat?