“A Non-Editorial on Non-Hypoglycemia”

Abstract

From the point of view of energy, the human brain in the adult of average size squanders about one fifth of the body's basal caloric output, consuming oxygen and glucose and producing water, carbon dioxide and heat. Under the usual circumstances, only glucose is employed as fuel. The chemical or electric energy leaving the brain via the exiting nerves and spinal cord is infinitesimal compared to that leaving as heat added to the venous outflow. Although this summary describes brain as a wasteful intracranial radiator, the heat is mainly a by-product of the energetics needed to maintain electrochemical gradients as . . .