Food for thought

Thinking makes you eat more

Straining your brain makes you eat more, according to a new study at Laval University, in Canada.

The study assessed the eating habits of three groups of students. The first group sat and rested for 45 minutes, the second read and summarised a text and the third group completed a set of memory tasks.

While the scientists initially believed that the mentally active students would only eat three more calories than the resting students, the results were far more stark.

The students who complete the memory tasks ate 253 more calories (or 29.4 per cent more) than those who had rested. The students who had summarised the text ate 203 more calories.

The researchers claim that thinking causes fluctuations in our glucose levels, which makes us demand more food. The brain is powered by glucose, but cannot produce its own supply.