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Jennie Brand-Miller, Emeritus Professor of Human Nutrition, University of Sydney

Fruit and honey fuelled the early evolution of the human brain

Brain Artificial Intelligence Luxury Protein
HeidiB/Getty Images

Intelligence is an energetically expensive luxury – as the rise of artificial intelligence has reminded us. The human brain is no exception.

Comprising roughly 2% of the body weight, it uses one fifth the body’s energy in the resting state – compared with less than half of this in non-human primates. A five-year-old child devotes 66% of the energy they need to stay alive to their brain.

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