r/videos 2d ago

The Data that Says We're Getting Stupider

https://youtu.be/clz48AOBQQM
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u/BafangFan 2d ago

I'll posit this:

Our brains are compromised of a large amount of cholesterol. Granted, the cholesterol in our brains is made within the brain, and doesn't come from our diet.

But as we have moved away from saturated fats in our diet in favor of poly-unsaturated fats, we have reduced the proper building blocks available for our brains to use.

Plant fats don't contain cholesterol. Instead they contain phytosterols; and phytosterols can actually take the place of cholesterol in some parts of our cells - except they do not work the same as cholesterol. And they therefore inhibit cellular function.

Our brains have actually shrunk by a few percent over the past 30,000 years. Perhaps that is due to the die -off of mega-fauna (wherein we would have eaten the fat of those animals, as well as the bone marrow inside their larger bones), and to the rise of agriculture

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u/APiousCultist 1d ago

Seems like a significant reduction in brain cholesterol levels would both be measurable and almost certainly already observed though.

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u/BafangFan 1d ago

How would we do that?

Cranial biopsy?

Biopsy of deceased persons?

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u/APiousCultist 1d ago

I was thinking specifically biopsies of the deceased or brains donated to science. Presumably some of this can also be detected on MRIs etc.