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/Tanukifan Mar 03 '25

Their conclusion was:

Chewing moderately hard material elevates brain antioxidant levels such as GSH, potentially influencing cognitive function.

So its not specifically wood that gives the effect, even if they tested it with wood.

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u/eliminating_coasts Mar 03 '25

If only they'd tested carrots, we could have much less strange immediate recommendations.

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u/roamingandy Mar 03 '25

Not sure they'd work as you're eating carrots rather than chewing on them for a prolonged time like wood or gum.

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u/eliminating_coasts Mar 03 '25

I think if chewing is the thing that causes the effect, there's not much harm in eating a vast quantity of uncooked and peeled but unchopped carrots - they're not particularly energy dense, high in fibre and vitamins etc. so you probably could just keep munching carrots like a horse for hours without having a significant negative effect.

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u/TheArmoredKitten Mar 03 '25

Total anecdote, but my dog's favorite treat is a big ol carrot right out of the dirt. I'll go to the farmer's market and buy a couple of em, because even one keeps her busy for at least an hour. Any time in the summer when she starts being a pain in the ass I just toss a cold carrot at her and she just hangs out in a sunny spot and obliterates it.

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u/Youre10PlyBud Mar 03 '25

We had one that loved radishes. She got into the garden one year, dug one up, then promptly dug up every single one and demolished them (her name is mischief, had the habit of getting into things like this ha). Had the worst gas ever, but we learned that was a treat for her so she'd get cold radishes out of the fridge once every blue moon.

Never seen a dog get so happy for a vegetable.

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u/MoreRopePlease Mar 03 '25

My dog loved fruits. She'd nose around in the blackberry brambles looking for blackberries. She'd stretch as high as she could to get the low-hanging cherries from the trees, she'd eat my strawberries and blueberries (I had to put a little fence around the patch). Sometimes I would throw her cherry pits or the ends of strawberries and she'd chase them and wolf them down. She also loved playing with garter snakes, and throw them around like a bit of rope, poor things.

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u/PsyCurious007 Mar 04 '25

One of my garden foxes, Daisy, had a thing for gooseberries and would stand up on her hind legs to get them.