NBB Summer Program in Paris

At the beginning of our trip, I told myself I would kick my newfound caffeine addiction, but I quickly realized the importance of coffee in French culture. I decided to make the most of the rich culture while I am here, so, instead of avoiding coffee, I made the goal of trying coffee from a different cafe every day. In America, we are always on the go, which is incorporated in our coffee preferences. At school, I find myself preferring to grab a coffee from Blue Donkey or Starbucks on my way to class instead of enjoying the drink while sitting with my friends. In France, coffee and meals are a social event, and I have noticed myself finishing my food and drink faster than other patrons, something I try to be mindful of while I am here. I have enjoyed the slower pace of meals in Paris, as it offers a great time to catch up with friends and destress after class, homework, and our various excursions.

In our neuroethics class, we discussed whether coffee is considered a cognitive enhancer, an interesting question when you consider how popular the drink has become in modern times. During our discussion, one of my classmates mentioned the neuroprotective properties of coffee. Wanting to investigate this more, I searched for further research and stumbled upon an article about the effects of elevated coffee intake, defined as consuming more than three cups of coffee per day, in patients coinfected with HIV and HCV. In our NBB 402W class, we read and reviewed a paper discussing the coinfection of HIV and syphilis, so this research seemed related. As I read the paper, I learned that people who are coinfected with HIV and HCV experience an accelerated aging process and cognitive impairment. The authors researched regular coffee intake and neurocognitive performance using data from 139 coinfected patients. Their results found a significant, positive correlation between elevated coffee intake and neurocognitive performance in verbal fluency, psychomotor speed, and executive functioning, suggesting that increased coffee intake may preserve neurocognitive functioning in people living with HIV/HCV coinfection (Antwerpes et al., 2020).

Although this study focused on sexually transmitted diseases, I wonder about the correlation between coffee and neurodegenerative diseases. With a history of dementia in my family, and the amount of coffee I have been consuming this past year, it brings me hope that my coffee addiction could be doing something other than charging my credit card $5 a day.

Citation:

Antwerpes, S., Protopopescu, C., Morlat, P., Marcellin, F., Wittkop, L., Di Beo, V., Salmon Céron, D., Sogni, P., Michel, L., Carrieri, M. P., & The Anrs Co Hepavih Study Group (2020). Coffee Intake and Neurocognitive Performance in HIV/HCV Coinfected Patients (ANRS CO13 HEPAVIH). Nutrients, 12(9), 2532. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12092532

On Saturday, May 21^st, Lauren, Sam, and I visited Sacré-Cœur Basilica, known in English as Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Basilica is located in the 18^th district, an easy walk from our apartments. We walked over stopping for some delicious ice cream along the way. When we got to the Basilica, I did not realize it was located on the summit of the butte Montmartre, which is the highest point in the city. While this created a very picturesque scene, it also meant a lot of stairs to get up. Taking a couple of breaks along the way, we made our way to the top and were rewarded with a gorgeous view of the city. We then entered the Basilica to take in its beauty and learn about its history.

The Basilica’s construction was complete in 1914 and it was consecrated in 1919. It is a Roman Catholic church that is considered both a political and cultural monument. On the inside, the walls and ceiling are covered in paintings and stained glass windows. There are also exhibits highlighting key figures in their history. Although I am Jewish and did not recognize many of the figures or understand their traditions, I could appreciate the beauty and significance of the Basilica to those who connect with it.

When thinking about how to connect this visit with class content, I was curious if there was literature on the neuroscience of religion. I found a review examining religion, spirituality, and their neurobiological correlates (Rim et al., 2019). The review pulled from studies where individuals with different opinions on the importance of religion/spirituality and different levels of engagement in religious/spiritual behaviors were studied using EEG, fMRI, and sMRI to explore neural correlates.

One study in the review that stood out to me was where fMRIs were done while praying (Schjødt et al., 2008). They found that there was increased activation in the caudate nucleus during religious recitals compared to secular recitals. With this finding, the researchers were able to support their hypothesis that repetitive engagement in religious prayer can stimulate the dopaminergic reward pathway. As someone who grew up in a religious environment but never felt spiritually connected, I found this very interesting and it helped me understand why others can feel so connected to religion and prayer while I might not.

Overall, I enjoyed the beauty of the Basilica both inside and out and found it fascinating to explore the neuroscience of religion.

Reference

Rim, J. I., Ojeda, J. C., Svob, C., Kayser, J., Drews, E., Kim, Y., Tenke, C. E., Skipper, J., & Weissman, M. M. (2019). Current Understanding of Religion, Spirituality, and Their Neurobiological Correlates. Harvard review of psychiatry, 27(5), 303–316. https://doi.org/10.1097/HRP.0000000000000232\

Schjødt, U., Stødkilde-Jørgensen, H., Geertz, A. W., & Roepstorff, A. (2008). Rewarding prayers. Neuroscience Letters, 443(3), 165–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2008.07.068

By Ally Grubman

This past week, we went to Musee du Chocolat in the 10th arrondissement. Within the museum, we were able to walk around, learn about the history and process of chocolate making, and my favorite part, make our own chocolate bars and chocolate-dipped goodies.

We were given the opportunity to dip marshmallows, candied orange slices, and chocolate squares in milk or dark chocolate and decorate them however we wanted to. We then made and decorated our own chocolate bars, getting fancy and mixing different types of chocolates. This was a fun and yummy experience for all of us!

From an NBB perspective, I learned and feel more confident about my knowledge of chocolate and how it affects the brain. Specifically, within our neuroethics class, we have been talking about drugs and how some have the capability to change or enhance moods. Chocolate is also known to be addictive, something else that it can have in common with certain types of drugs. Wong and Lua (2014) found that chocolate has an incredibly complex relationship with the brain and the way in which it affects an individual’s mood. Each individual is different and can be affected in their own unique and inspiring way. This was something that I found immensely interesting and wondered about after our trip to the Musee du Chocolat. Additionally, Macht and Mueller (2007) found that it was specifically the palatability of the chocolate that immediately improved negative mood within their study conducted on 48 healthy men and women. This reminded me of our assigned article 1 from our NBB402W class, which discussed the effect that cheese has on the HPA axis and stress. Both showed that the palatability of specific foods has the ability to either reduce stress or enhance mood. This is clearly a topic of research that is important for everyone to look at with a closer eye and hope that it is true!

The chocolate museum was a great experience because it taught me a lot about chocolate and piqued my curiosity about the topic. It was also very fun to be able to learn how chocolate is made and see how it was done by a professional. Plus, the goodie bag of chocolates was not bad either! Overall, I think I speak for everyone in the class when I say we really enjoyed the Musee du Chocolat and would recommend it to anyone visiting Paris!

Citations:

Macht, M., & Mueller, J. (2007). Immediate effects of chocolate on experimentally induced mood states. Appetite, 49(3), 667–674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2007.05.004

Wong, S. Y., & Lua, P. L. (2011). Chocolate: food for moods. Malaysian Journal of Nutrition, 17(2), 259–269.

This Wednesday, the class visited the Musee du Chocolat; it felt strange to know that there was a commercial museum for chocolate in France when the cocoa bean is ultimately an imported good. As a result of this incongruency, I frankly felt skeptical about the whole museum experience… This may also be because I am not a very big fan of sweets.

The first half of the experience was spent “making” our own chocolate. We were given bowls of melted chocolate and chocolate-filled piping bags to dip and decorate marshmallows and chocolate bars. Most of my time was spent eating the ingredients on the side (the hazelnuts in particular). We had a personal chocolatier guide who showed us demonstrations in design that were awe-inspiring (he made it look so easy).

 

Personally, I never seek out chocolate or buy it on my own, but I do not mind eating it if it is offered. Thus, it was interesting to think through the potential health rammifications of eating it for substances such as methylxanthines or theobromine that are naturally present in coffee. After the visit, I had to do a lot more reading on my own to learn what these compounds could do to our brain–especially after our NBB 471 class today about “cognitive enhancements.” 

Here are some basic citations about substances in coffee that helped me get up to speed:

 

… “methylxanthines are also known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties, mediate changes in lipid homeostasis and have neuroprotective effects”

Methylxanthines and Neurodegenerative Diseases: An Update

<REFERENCES are also included at the end>

“Theobromine is used principally to make caffeine (McCutheon, 1969). Formerly, theobromine and its derivatives were used in diuretics, myocardial stimulants, vasodilators and smooth muscle relaxants (Windholz, 1983).”

Coffee, Tea, Mate, Methylxanthines and Methylglyoxal.

 

With this in mind, perhaps it could be a good practice to start eating more chocolate as a pseudo-vitamin. In relation to the class discussion of cognitive enhancement, it is interesting to imagine a world where we, collectively, realize the benefit of chocolate similar to the way we have commodified coffee. Even today, there are commercial products that claim to extract these compounds for a more measured, direct consumption. But perhaps chocolate is only desirable for the fact that it can be unhealthy–the existence of a limit may very well be the incentive for its consumption.

 

Although you have to do a little deeper reading to understand the long term effects of substances like chocolate, I thought it was interesting to compare chocolate and cigarettes in this sense. In relation to societies, both French and Korean cultures see a higher prevalance of smoking than in the US, and both see higher life expectancies. Similarly, it is interesting to ponder the possible health benefits of chocolate on life expectancies–a relationship that may be unexpected because most people see chocolate as unhealthy. 

The most scientific article (outside of editorials) investigated chocolate’s effect on the fruit fly’s life span. 

 

“… results illustrate that a moderate supplementation of cocoa under normoxia increases the average life span, whereas, at higher concentrations, average life span is normal.”

 

Cocoa confers life span extension in Drosophila melanogaster

 

Personally, I will not be eating much chocolate on my own out of preference, but if you do happen to up your chocolate intake, you should consider conducting a research study on this and let me know if you find anything 🙂

 

 

References:

 

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8000915/ 

(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507032/ 

(3) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19083435/