Kinetics» Science

TEDxPotomac: A River Runs Through It

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:39:05 +0000

“The river is woven into our history. It graces our landscape. And in a modern urban environment, it is a reminder of our connection to the natural world, to ideas larger than us, and to our past and future.” – Patrick Smith, TEDxPotomac Organizer

The inaugural TEDxPotomac drew its name and inspiration from the Potomac River. Ideas surged and ebbed and flowed and branched.

The word cloud above highlights actions and ideas passionately conveyed by speakers and participants throughout the day. Some concepts that resonated:

Humans have a basic need to collaborate. [Berit Oskey]
We need context to give meaning. Find something in your world and discover its name and learn something about it. [Bob Corrigan @bobcorrigan @eolpm]
The difference between first and second place: Do one more thing one more time. [Josh Sundquist @joshsundquist]
Engage people. Share results. Ask for feedback. Listen. Repeat. [Craig Newmark @craignewmark]
Redesign your expectations of what is possible. [Yoko K @yokokami]
Data is power. Information is power. [Shannon Hader]
Foster accountability over scapegoating, dispersion of power over concentration of power, transparency over anonymity. [Frances Moore Lappé @FMLappe]
Live your life in pursuit of what makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning. [Warren Brown @cakelovewarren]
Excellence touches people deeply [Steve Moore @readysetdc]
Civility is a big deal. Be nice. [Craig Newmark @craignewmark]

And from the final talk of the day highlighting the theme of rivers and water:
Water is life. We are all environmentalists. Water connects us all across the globe. [Alexandra Cousteau @acousteau]

Thanks to the organizers, speakers, sponsors, and other participants for sharing their time, energy, and passion.

TEDxPotomac Resources

TEDxPotomac site
TEDxPotomac on Twitter @tedxpotomac #tedxpotomac
http://twitter.com/tedxpotomac/attendees-2010
TEDxPotomac on Flickr
TEDx site (x = independently organized TED event)
Main TED site

TEDxPotomac buzz

Image generated by Wordle http://www.wordle.net/

Utilizing Mobile Technology and New Media to Encourage Mobile Lifestyles

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:21:49 +0000

The fast moving, participatory world of social media is embraced by the White House and the CDC, as well as by professional athletes and major corporations. This presentation, given by invitation at the 2010 American College of Sports Medicine Health and Fitness Summit, educates health professionals on the basics and illustrates how social media and mobile technology can be used to promote programs and engage, educate and motivate individuals.

The resources cited or utilized for this presentation are listed below. If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or more examples, feel free to contact me through the ‘contact’ page or post a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!

Basic Guidelines and information

Reports

Pew Internet & American Life Project http://www.pewinternet.org/ Recent relevant reports include:

Policies

mHealth

Examples

Terminology

Stats

Journals

Miscellaneous

Staying up to date

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New Year’s Resolutions: The Magnetic Poetry of TEDx MidAtlantic

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:45:08 +0000

This word cloud represents the essence of the messages of the inaugural TEDx MidAtlantic event as culled from my scribbled notes. The speakers were amazing role models, and their messages, which were so passionately delivered, words to live by.

In the true spirit of TED, the terms cut across numerous disciplines, including technology, arts, medicine, business, health, entertainment, and design. As I reviewed my notes, it struck me that the key messages represent a wonderful sort of magnetic poetry mosaic from which New Year’s resolutions can be crafted.

The theme of the TEDx MidAtlantic event was The Power of Stories. I’ve selected five words that spoke to me to build personal resolutions and craft my 2010 story. They are empower, execute, listen, acknowledge, evolve.

What 5 words would you choose to craft your 2010 story?

To start your new year with a dose of inspiration, check out videos of the talks, which are available at both TED and TEDx MidAtlantic. Some of my favorite TED talks include:

For more insight into the TEDx MidAtlantic event held in November 2009 in Baltimore at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), check out these reviews:

Duende: TEDx MidAtlantic. (A wonderful ‘visual recording’)
GrayMatter Minute: TEDx MidAtlantic, Eggs, Bones, Cows and Social Media.
Jim Doran: TEDx MidAtlantic. (The ‘top five favorite talks’ represents a perfect list of videos to watch and then craft 2010 resolutions)
Stellargirl: Inspired by TEDxMidAtlantic. (Key phrases that capture the event essence)
Christiana Aretta: Visual High Notes from TEDxMidAtlantic. (Stunning photos that convey the passion of the speakers)

Related posts:

Image generated by Wordle, http://www.wordle.net/.

Are humans designed to be endurance runners?

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:02:35 +0000

Are we designed to run?

“A squirrel can probably outrun most humans.”
— Dan Lieberman, Ph.D., professor of biological anthropology, Harvard University

Have you experienced Zen-like runs in which you glide along, your limbs moving rhythmically, your breath even, your heart echoing the beat of the world around you, and your senses alive? And have you experienced runs where your limbs are heavy and awkward, your breath labored, your joints aching, your brain starving, and your body screaming “STOP”?

Most of us have experienced both types of runs, especially as we prepare for a season of marathons and charity events or as we seek to burn a few calories and get some fresh air. As a physiologist, the wide range of euphoria and misery induced by running has often left me pondering whether we are designed to run, and if so, what type of running is buried in the genes of our ancestors. Now I know the answer:

“We have an evolutionary legacy to be endurance athletes.”

That’s according to biological anthropologist Dr. Dan Lieberman. As Homo sapiens, we are born to run. Dr. Lieberman delivered the keynote Joseph B. Wolffe Memorial Lecture on “Human Evolution, Endurance Running and Injury” at the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting in Seattle, Wash. His talk was so intriguing that I found myself reading through years of his research. The more I explored the data, the more amazing the evidence became. And clearly, I’m not the only one fascinated with this topic, as illustrated by the recent popularity of books such as Born to Run, Why We Run: A Natural History, and ChiRunning.

Humans are designed to run long distances, according to Dr. Lieberman. By long, he means over 3 miles (5 kilometers) — distances that rely on aerobic metabolism. We aren’t designed to be sprinters, and hence we’ll lose short-distance races against squirrels and other four-legged animals.

The evidence for our long-distance prowess stretches back about 1.5 million years to Homo erectus, and stretches from our head to our toes. Based primarily on fossil evidence, it appears we’ve evolved a range of amazing traits that distinguish us from our tree-climbing primate relatives and that go well beyond the characteristics needed for two-legged walking. These features enable us to regulate our body heat, stabilize our heads so we don’t resemble bobblehead dolls, stabilize our trunks, absorb shock and store mechanical energy.

Some top features that enable us to excel at running include:

A head with a fairly flat face and small nose — which shifts the center of mass of our head back so it’s easier to balance.

A preference for mouth breathing rather than nasal breathing at greater running intensities. While we don’t pant in the manner of many four-legged animals, mouth breathing helps us dissipate heat and offers less resistance and a greater rate of airflow than nasal breathing.

Reduced body hair (fur) and extensive sweat glands that help us dissipate the heat generated by our contracting muscles and thus maintain a stable body temperature. The ability to sweat from our scalp, forehead and face may help cool blood before it reaches our brain.

Wide shoulders that rotate independently of our head and neck, allowing our arms to freely swing while our head aims forward. Wide shoulders also help with balance and stabilization.

Short and light forearms that reduce the energy required to maintain our elbows in a flexed position during running.

A large gluteus maximus (butt muscle) that enhances stabilization of our trunk. This muscle is barely used for walking, but it is used extensively during running and keeps us from falling forward onto our faces.

Large joint surfaces relative to our body mass in most of our lower limb joints (sacroiliac, hip and knee) — which help dissipate impact forces.

Long tendons and ligaments in our legs and feet that act like springs to store and release mechanical energy, thus reducing the metabolic cost of running. These include the Achilles tendon, the iliotibial tract and the peroneus longus muscle.

Arches in our feet that absorb impact and serve as springs.

Compact, rigid feet and short toes that allow efficient use of our feet to push off from the ground during running.

While we are designed for endurance running, our ability to store only about 18 to 20 miles worth of glycogen (sugar), as well as our need to replenish water and electrolytes lost from sweating, suggest we did not evolve to run marathon-length (or greater) distances. Hence the evolution of the electrolyte drink, power bar and race-day water stops staffed with cheering volunteers.

Cruise control
It’s easy for us to take these amazing anatomical structures for granted. We curse when we suffer Achilles tendinitis or plantar fasciitis or get irritated when sweat drips into our eyes. The next time you find yourself lacking motivation to head out the door for a jog or struggling through a run, give thanks to your ancestors. Channel your inner Homo erectus, embrace your big strong glutes, hold your head high and relish the astounding evidence that we are born to be endurance runners — and you may find yourself gliding along filled with gratitude.

Learn more

Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. D.M. Bramble and D. E. Lieberman, Nature 432: 345-352, 2004.
The human gluteus maximus and its role in running. D. E. Lieberman, et al., Journal of Experimental Biology, 209:2143-2155, 2006.
Q & A: Joseph B. Wolffe Memorial Lecturer, Sports Medicine Bulletin, American College of Sports Medicine

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Bench Top Roundup: Nobel Edition

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:57:10 +0000

Dr. Marshall Nirenburg in his office with molecular models. He shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on deciphering the genetic code. (I had the honor of working in the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics at the National Institutes of Health, where Marshall is laboratory chief.) Photo courtesy of National Library of Medicine Profiles in Science.

Here’s a roundup of recent thought-provoking, amazing, and/or just plain cool items that are worth a look. In this week’s Nobel edition we celebrate the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Prizes.

Can you hear me now?
“Hello, you’ve won the Nobel.” A chat with Gunnar Öquist, the man who makes The Phone Call. From Seed Magazine.
“Then, the phone really started ringing. It was a reporter from The A.P. who said she was in front of our apartment and wanted to get a picture of me. I said, ‘I’m in my pajamas.’ She said, ‘That’s exactly the photo I want.’ I said, ‘But you’re not going to get it.’” A brilliant interview with Martin Chalfie, 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, who slept through The Phone Call. From The New York Times.

Sidewiki
Are you familiar with Sidewiki? If not, brush up with these thought-provoking posts.
Been Avoiding Social Media? It Just Kicked In Your Door, The Scholarly Kitchen
Google SideWiki: How to Brace Yourself for a Communications Bitch Slap, Phil Bauman
A Google colonial sideswipe, Andrew Keen of the UK Telegraph
Martin Frank, Executive Director of the American Physiological Society, points out via Twitter that Sidewiki could allow for commentary along side research articles. (@ExecDirectorAPS)
Make sure to watch the demo video and ponder the implications. What are your thoughts?

Stick figures
Watching life unfold as a social network where every link is a human relationship and every circle is a waistline. “The Buddy System: How Medical Data Revealed Secret to Health and Happiness,” from Wired. Includes stunning data visualizations.

4 billion served
“More than 4 billion [cell phones] are now in use worldwide, three-quarters of them in the developing world.” From The Economist special report on “The power of mobile money.”
4.1 billion SMS messages are sent daily, according to the latest Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey results from CTIA-The Wireless Association®

Art imitating life
Anatomical illustrations by Fernando Vicente that merge science and art and add a dash of fashion. They are reminiscent of Andreas Vesalius’s classic 1543 De Humani Corporis Fabrica (this link is to an amazing ‘touch and turn’ version of the book.)

Fat body = skinny wallet
NPR interview with Safeway Inc. CEO Steve Burd, about the company’s wellness incentive program. Employees receive a discount on their health insurance if their body mass index is below 30, the number over which people are considered obese. (Here’s a BMI calculator so you can see if you qualify for a discount.)

Don’t bother with the CliffsNotes
“There was no rule book, we just did what we thought was interesting and might prove fruitful. You can’t write a book on how to do that.” Dr. George Smith, 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, in “‘Masters of Light’ Get Nobel,” a wonderful article in The Wall Street Journal.

100+ Top Play Resources

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:24:34 +0000

'Just Rome' courtesy of Pensiero at Flickr

There’s growing recognition that play is not just, well, child’s play. Mounting evidence shows play has a crucial role in cognitive, physiological, behavioral and social development and adaptation at all ages and stages of life.

In essence, we need to take play seriously. Play has been recognized as a right of every child by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. It is also the right of teens, adults and seniors. As we learn more about the benefits of play, it’s apparent it belongs in living rooms and boardrooms, and in sand lots and parking lots – any place there’s room to move. Play sculpts our brains, our bodies, our relationships, and our future.

Below is a wide ranging – but by no means exhaustive – list of play resources that includes organizations, resources, guidelines and reports, current news stories, books, audio and video, e-newsletters, blogs, twitter hashtags, programs, locations, and events.

Many of these sites offer extensive resource lists and news feeds of their own that integrate the fields of education, urban design, transportation, the environment, physical activity, sports, nutrition, and obesity. While the list focuses on more recent resources that mainly center on play, there are many, many outstanding resources I’ve overlooked. Please feel free to add them in the comment section…on your way out the door to play.

Play: Organizations (alphabetical)

Play: Resources (alphabetical)

Play: Guidelines & Reports (most recent first)

The Loss of Children’s Play: A Public Health Issue. Alliance for Childhood, Policy Brief 1, November, 2009. (pdf) New!
Restoring Play and Playful Learning to U.S. Kindergartens. Alliance for Childhood, Policy Brief 2, November, 2009. (pdf) New!
Children’s Nature Deficit: What We Know – and Don’t Know. Cheryl Charles, Richard Louv, Children and Nature Network, September, 2009. (pdf) New!
The Playwork Primer, Penny Wilson, in conjunction with The Alliance for Childhood. April, 2009. (pdf) New!
F as in Fat 2009. How obesity policies are failing in America. Trust for America’s Health, July, 2009.
The built environment: Designing communities to promote physical activity in children. Pediatrics. Vol. 123 No. 6 June 2009, pgs 1591-1598. (Policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics)
What is playwork? Fact sheet No. 14. Frazer Brown, June, 2009. The Children’s Play Information Service. (pdf)
Creating & retrofitting play environments: best practice guidelines. PlayCore, Inc. and Natural Learning Initiative, 2009.
Crisis in the kindergarten: why children need to play in school. Alliance for Childhood, March 2009. (pdf)
Managing Risk in Play Provision: Implementation guide. Guide commissioned by Play England. David Ball, Tim Gill and Bernard Spiegal, The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), December 2008. (pdf) New!
The Play Strategy. Department for Children, Schools and Families, U.K., December, 2008. New!
2008 Physical activity guidelines for Americans. U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Oct 2008.
Time out: Is recess in danger? Patte Barth, The Center for Public Education, August 2008.
Design for Play – A guide to creating successful play spaces. Guide commissioned by Play England. Aileen Shackell, Nicola Butler, Phil Doyle, David Ball, The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), August 2008. New!
The VERB campaign. Not about health, all about fun: marketing physical activity to children. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Vol 34, Issue 6, Supplement, June 2008.
Call to activity: getting kids moving in the great outdoors. President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports, DHHS, February, 2008. (pdf)
Recess Rules. Why the undervalued playtime may be America’s best investment for healthy kids and healthy schools. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2007. (pdf)
Building “Generation Play”: Addressing the crisis of inactivity among America’s children. A report by Stanford University, February, 2007. Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine. (pdf)
The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds. Pediatrics vol 119, No. 1, Jan 2007. Clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. (pdf)
The trouble with 21st Century Kids. A special report by SPI Play in association with Peter Smith and Rachel Biggins. Richard Emmott Marketing Ltd, 2006. (pdf) New!
A Guide to the ADA accessibility guidelines for play areas. U.S. Access Board, Oct 2005.

Play: Current News Stories (most recent first)

In summer, kids need real play time. Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, June 24, 2009.
10 reasons play can make you healthy, happy, and more productive. Nancy Shute, U.S. News and World Report, March 9, 2009.
Deskercise: Staying jazzed and focused at school. Allison Aubrey, NPR, Morning Edition, February 26, 2009.
The serious need for play. Melinda Wenner, Scientific American, January 2009.
The new playground: bye, jungle gym. Kathleen Kingsbury, Time, Jan. 28, 2009.
Old-fashioned play builds serious skills. Alex Spiegel, NPR, Morning Edition, February 21, 2008.
Taking play seriously. Robin Marantz Henig, The New York Times (magazine), Feb 17, 2008.
No outdoor play ‘hurts children.’ BBC News, September 10, 2007.
Putting the skinned knees back into playtime. Alex Williams, The New York Times, May 20, 2007.
A classroom of monkey bars and slides. Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, April 3, 2007.

Play: Books (alphabetical order)

The ambiguity of play. Brian Sutton-Smith, Harvard University Press, 2001.
Children at play: an American history . Howard Chudacoff, NYU Press, 2007.
The dangerous book for boys. Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden, William Morrow, 2007.
The daring book for girls. Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz, William Morrow, 2007.
Exuberant animal: the power of health, play and joyful movement. Frank Forencich, AuthorHouse, 2006.
The genesis of animal play: testing the limits. Gordon Burghardt, The MIT Press, 2005.
The genius of play: Celebrating the spirit of childhood. Sally Jenkinson, Hawthorn Press Ltd, 2001. New!
Homo Ludens – A study of the play element in culture. Johan Huizinga, Beacon Press, 1971.
Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Richard Louv, Algonquin Books, 2008.
Play = learning: how play motivates and enhances children’s cognitive and social-emotional growth. Dorothy G. Singer, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (eds). Oxford University Press, 2006.
Play as if your life depends on it: functional exercise and living for Homo sapiens. Frank Forencich, Go Animal, 2003.
Play. How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul. Stuart Brown, with Christopher Vaughan. Avery, New York, 2009.
Playing and learning outdoors: Making provision for high quality experiences in the outdoor environment. Jan White, Routledge, 2007. New!
Play reconsidered: sociological perspectives on human expression. Thomas S. Henricks, University of Illinois Press, 2006.
The power of play. David Elkind, Da Capo Press, 2007.
Under the sky: Playing, working and enjoying adventures in the open air – a handbook for parents, carers and teachers. Sally Schweizer, Rudolf Steiner Press, April 2009. New!

Play: Audio & videos (Most recent first)

Jill Vialet, Living in Communities: Now Press Play. TEDx SF, November, 2009. New!
Videos from The Summit on the Value of Play, June 2009. New!
The science of play. Radiolab, WNYC, May 30, 2008.
Stuart Brown: Play is more than fun. TED talk, May 2008 from the 2008 Serious Play conference.
Tim Brown: Creativity and play. TED talk, May 2008 from the 2008 Serious Play conference.
Playgrounds for the elderly. ABC news, March 18, 2008.
Where do the children play? Documentary, Michigan Television, 2008.
Gever Tulley: 5 dangerous things for kids. TED talk, March 2007.
Adventure playgrounds’ a dying breed in the U.S. Kristin Wiederholt, NPR, Day to Day, March 9, 2006.

Playful popular videos

Dolphin play bubble rings, chiajungchi New!
Piano Staircase, Thefuntheory.com New!
Polar bears and dogs playing, FirstScience TV New!
Sesame Street: Outdoors with Jason Mraz New!
The Elk Dance, QuietBuck (originally from David Neils) New!
Where Do The Children Play, muppetmeatloaf New!
Your ball needs you, Let’s Move New!

Play: e-Newsletters (alphabetical order)

Play: Blogs (alphabetical)

Active Kids Club
Creative Play Plus
Eco Child’s Play New!
Experimental Play New!
Free-Range Kids
The Grass Stain Guru
Green Hour (NWF)
KaBOOM! Blog
Let Kids Play!!
Let the children play New!
Parklover New!
Peaceful Playgrounds
Peekabooplay
PhD in Parenting (see Carnival of Play posts)
Play Activities New!
Playborhood
Play Everything
Playground Chronicles New!
PlayGroundology New!
Play Outdoors: The Campfire
Play Parks Central: Play, Pretend, Play
Playscapes
Playward
Your Wild Child
What’s out there? New!

Play: Twitter http://twitter.com/
Hashtags #play #playoutdoors #parks
(These streams are a great way to find play-centric individuals and organizations to follow)

Play: Programs (alphabetical order)

Play: Locations

Play: Events (alphabetical order)

Related posts on play

Note: I have bookmarked all these resources on the social bookmarking site Del.icio.us at http://delicious.com/ctorgan/

Choreographing Cells: Dance Dance Evolution

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:24:56 +0000

What do you get when choreographers interpret scientific papers that interpret our cells choreography? A Science Dance Match Up Challenge.

In a challenge recently held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), four professional choreographers were paired with four scientists to create dances based on peer-reviewed scientific research. Individuals were invited to read the abstracts of the articles, watch the dances either live or online, and then try to match the science to the dance. The entire event was conducted as an informal research study to see if modern dance encodes science.

Those who watched the dances performed live, rather than online, were much better at matching the dance with the research, according to the results. “Being part of a live audience focuses your attention in a way that staring at a lonely computer screen never can. It’s equally true of art and science,” said John Bohannon, in his AAAS Gonzo Scientist column. (For science geeks, here’s the raw data).

The winning live audience was the University of Vermont, which beat out a global range of institutes that included McGill University in Montreal, CeMM in Vienna, The Science Gallery in Dublin, and Harvard. The New York Time’s Tierney Lab blog even took a turn, challenging readers to take the Dancing Science Quiz and tabulating results.

“Sun Starved,” shown below, is one of the dances from the Science Dance Challenge. The dance was choreographed by Chloe Jensen, working with researcher Dr. Sue Lynn Lau on the paper, Loss of ARNT/HIF1β Mediates Altered Gene Expression and Pancreatic-Islet Dysfunction in Human Type 2 Diabetes. Cell 122, 337 (2005).

Cell dance
While the choreographers created an amazing body of work, another type of choreographed dance – albeit one without an audience – simultaneously went on inside each of the cells within the dancers bodies.

“The Inner Life of the Cell,” the video above, illustrates the dance taking place inside a single white blood cell. It was created by XVIVO, a scientific animation company. Clearly the medical illustrators are also choreographers. They just sport high tech software rather than leg warmers.

Enjoy the dances.

So you think you can dance?

Carbohydrates and sports performance: rinse, repeat, win?

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:38:28 +0000

Hand off – Courtesy of Anna.Hawaii at Flickr

Can simply swishing a carbohydrate-containing solution around in your mouth improve short-duration exercise performance? Yes, according to intriguing new research.

It’s been well documented that ingesting carbohydrates during exercise can improve athletic performance in events lasting for several hours or more. But in events lasting for only an hour, the carbohydrates you suck down aren’t needed by your muscles for fuel.

Surprisingly, however, consuming carbohydrates has been found to improve short, intense exercise performance. Since the carbs aren’t needed for energy by the working muscles, physiologists have been left scratching their heads. A key insight appears to be in how the carbohydrates are consumed.

From the lips to the hips
If individuals perform a simulated one-hour cycling time trial in a lab and are given glucose intravenously, bypassing the mouth and gut, their bloodstreams will fill with the energy-supplying sugar. Yet the subjects will show no improvement in cycling performance as compared to when they complete the time trial with an infusion of only saline.

However, if individuals perform a stationary cycling time trial in the lab and do nothing more than rinse their mouths with a maltodextrin solution, they’ll show an improvement in their exercise performance. Maltodextrin is a type of sugar that is not sweet — which offers another clue to this crazy paradox.

This evidence suggests it’s the mouth, not the muscles, that is happy to see carbohydrates. These results hint that there are taste receptors in the mouth that are sensitive to carbohydrates, even non-sweet ones such as maltodextrin. The theory is that once the receptors are activated, signals are sent to the brain that ultimately result in improved exercise performance.

A real tongue twister
As you might recall from science class, our tongues have taste buds for sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Our mouths now appear to also contain receptors that respond to carbohydrates. New evidence is provided in a nice set of experiments done by Drs. Ed S. Chambers, Matt W. Bridge and David A. Jones from the University of Birmingham and published in Journal of Physiology.

The researchers asked cyclists to perform a simulated time trial in which they completed a set amount of work in the shortest time possible. The participants were given a solution of 6.4 percent glucose, 6.4 percent maltodextrin, or water, which was the placebo. (As a reference, Gatorade is 6 percent carbohydrate, and regular Coke is 11 percent carbohydrate.) All three solutions included a noncaloric artificial sweetener (containing aspartame and saccharin) to make them indistinguishable from each other. The cyclists rinsed their mouths with one of the solutions at the start of the time trial and then approximately every seven minutes during the ride.

The cyclists completed the time trial 2 to 3 percent faster when they rinsed their mouths with the glucose or maltodextrin solution than with the placebo (60.4 minutes with glucose vs. 61.6 minutes with placebo in one experiment, and 62.6 minutes with maltodextrin vs. 64.6 minutes with placebo in a second experiment). There was a corresponding increase in power output during the faster ride, with no change in perceived exertion or heart rate. This indicates the sugar swishing lowered the participants’ perception of how hard they were working.

Your brain on carbs
The researchers next had individuals swish a carbohydrate solution in their mouths while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The technology, which monitors the anatomical detail of brain activity, revealed that oral exposure to carbohydrates, both sweet and non-sweet, activates regions of the brain associated with reward. The areas include the striatum, the anterior cingulate cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex.

Before you start using Sprite as a mouthwash, there are several caveats to this research worth noting. The cyclists all performed the time trial following a six-hour or overnight fast, which is not how most of us start a bike ride or race. The concentration of some of the glucose and maltodextrin solutions used for the brain-imaging studies was almost three times greater (18 percent) than the one used during the exercise studies. The exact concentrations, types (glucose, fructose, maltodextrin, etc.) and forms (liquid, gel, solid) of carbs that are most effective in activating the brain to create more brawn are not known. These results also don’t reveal whether ingesting protein or other nutrients along with the carbs in a drink might alter the effects.

Elwood Gatorade Race. Courtesy of Alistair 35 at Flickr

The bottom line
Mounting evidence suggests we have receptors (both sweet and non-sweet) in our mouths that are sensitive to carbohydrates, and that when triggered, they activate areas in our brains associated with reward. This has implications for exercise performance and for the food industry. The research raises the intriguing question of whether other undiscovered receptors are lurking in our mouths as well.

By swishing a carbohydrate-containing drink in your mouth, you may be able to improve your exercise performance. If you are running a 5k or 10k race, or competing in a cycling time trial or other short-duration, high-intensity event, it may be worth your while to reach for a drink that contains carbs and to swish it around in your mouth. A potential 2 to 3 percent improvement in time is substantial. But if you need to slow your pace in order to swill, you may negate the improvement in time. And if you’re exercising in hot weather, be sure to swirl and then swallow the liquid in order to help stay hydrated.

Resources

Carbohydrate sensing in the human mouth: effects on exercise performance and brain activity. Chambers ES, Bridge MW, Jones DA. The Journal of Physiology, Apr 15;587(Pt 8):1779-94, 2009.
Historical Perspective of Biomedical Imaging: From MRI to fMRI

Related posts

Blinded by science? Check out Scitable

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:12:45 +0000

Does genetics make your toes (and DNA) curl with glee? If so check out Scitable. This new “collaborative learning space for science” is from Nature Publishing Group (NPG), one of the top-notch publishers of science information.

The site offers:

A science library with over 150 free articles that explain the science of genetics.
A community where you can connect and join groups. Teachers can create a classroom group, and students can ask experts questions.

The strength of the site is in the evidence-based content. An article on “Genes, Smoking, and Lung Cancer” starts:

Imagine this kind of warning on a cigarette package: Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risk to your health, particularly if your DNA is mutated at the 15q24 locus. Would you get tested for this mutation?

I’m hooked! (On the article, not the cigarettes.)

The target audience is undergraduate faculty and students, but anyone in search of a solid explanation of a genetics-related topic will find it here. For example, a scan of the question board found a dog trainer inquiring about “how fast a selected trait can be diminished in a canine.” The trainer was directed to a helpful article on “The Genetics of Dog Breeding.”

The site is easy to navigate and has some wonderful photos from Nature’s archives. Currently the content is focused on genetics, but hopefully more topics from the extensive collection of NPG journals (Nature Biotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nature Neuroscience, to name just a few) will be added in the not-too-distant future.

Kinetics

Carol Torgan, Ph.D. — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:23:22 +0000

Kinetic
ki•net•ic adjective
Of, relating to, or produced by motion.
Moving or causing motion; motory; active, as opposed to latent.

Our bodies are in perpetual motion, from the winding and unwinding of our coiled DNA to the beating of our hearts and accelerating of our limbs. This blog explores, debates and celebrates the body as we sense, move and adapt. I hope to inspire you to learn, argue, embrace, question and move.