With all the hormones and whatnot inside. Dopamine, adrenaline, melatonin, whatever. Also, there’s this Hunter S. Thompson bit on the… pineal gland?

If it had an effect on you, wouldn’t it be a really messed up high, all over the place? With uppers, downers etc mixed? (Not including the emotional implications of eating raw human brains.)

    • @Zippy@lemmy.world
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      22 years ago

      Why would that be likely? Wouldn’t that only be the case of the brain you are eating already has it?

      • SmokeyDope
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        2 years ago

        For whatever reason prion disease has a chance to spontaneously occur when mammals cannibalize. Especially if they are obligate herbivores. Prion disease was originally discovered in cows transmitting it to humans due to some particularly sick fuck running a slaughter factory thinking it would be a good idea to put cow meat scraps back in their feed soylent green style.

  • mrbubblesort
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    792 years ago

    Nah, it’s the other way around, you’d have to be really fucking high to wanna eat human brains

  • GingaNinga
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    582 years ago

    no your stomach acid would denature most of the proteins, then they’d be conjugated at the liver so whatever goes in will be transformed by what comes out. A lot of those hormones are tightly regulated so I’m thinking even if they make it into circulation they’d be eliminated fairly quickly. Only exception would be if they’re acid stable, not impacted on their way through the gut/metabolised by microbiota, absorbed in tact and still active after the first pass effect. Also theres enzymes like trypsin in your stomach that are specifically for degrading proteins so I doubt it would make you anything other than a canibal.

  • Otter
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    302 years ago

    Simplifying the question a bit:

    • Which hormones can be absorbed when eaten, and what effects would you feel

    • At what concentration are those found in the brain

    • @alvvayson@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      To answer the first one:

      My understanding is that it’s basically impossible to get these hormones through oral pathways.

      Mostly because they break down in stomach acid or can’t cross the blood brain barrier.

      And finally, if all that were solved, these hormones are typically short lived and are quickly lost.

      Which is why, say you are low on dopamine. We don’t give people dopamine pills, but instead some other medicine that promotes higher levels of dopamine.

      • @scbasteve7@lemm.ee
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        82 years ago

        We don’t actually promote higher levels of dopamine as far as I know. Dopamine agonists work by mimicing what dopamine does to your nervous system. It doesn’t actually produce any more. Also you can be given dopamine intravenously. It is mostly used to raise blood pressure in newborns. But you are right. For other uses, its smarter to mimic it, because of how short it lasts.

        We do, however, promote a higher concentration of serotonin with SSRIs. We do that by blocking natural inhibitors that destroy serotonin after being used. This way we can use them more before they die off.

      • @sir_pronoun@lemmy.worldOP
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        62 years ago

        I used to think that these hormones might break down in stomach acid as well, but then I discovered melatonin fruit gummies, which supposedly help you sleep. These gummies are what really inspired this question. (The ones I have are mango flavored, not brains flavored, btw, in case you were wondering)

        • Norgur
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          82 years ago

          Melatonin also breaks down in your stomach. It’s absorbed through the mouth and tongue while chewing. After that, most of the rest is lost. That’s why Melatonin pills require higher doses to do anything. The medical science world is still split if any of the fancy melatonin you gobble up in all those gummies can cross the blood brain barrier at all.

          So the same rules apply.

          • roguetrick
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            2 years ago

            Overall its very inconsistent due to the first pass effect of the liver as well. Anything absorbed from the alimentary canal goes through the liver first and the liver is very effective at breaking down lost hormones.

        • @alvvayson@lemmy.world
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          42 years ago

          I think melatonin is more the exception than the rule.

          Testosterone needs to be injected and has a very short half life.

          A quick Google shows Dopamine also needs to be injected and has a half life of one minute, so is only used as an IV drip.

  • @Fleshtrap@lemmy.world
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    142 years ago

    As far as the pineal gland goes, a book written in 2000 (DMT: The Spirit Molecule) declares the pineal gland produces enough DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) to experience hallucinogenic effects but this has not been confirmed, trace amounts of DMT has been found in the pineal glands of rats, but not humans. If there was enough DMT in a pineal gland and you ate it, you would also need to inhibit certain enzymes that break it down, namely, Monoamine Oxidase.

      • @sock@lemmy.world
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        -62 years ago

        that is a common story that most people know

        i bet a lot of people know more than you due to the question that you asked being very far off base from how anything actually works

        brain when consumed digests so if any chemicals were still there theyd have been metabolized into something different including dmt probably but im not sure if dmt is bioavailable in the stomach

  • BarqsHasBite
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    2 years ago

    Having absolutely no formal knowledge, I doubt it. The brain afaik is mostly fat…We also evolved eating animals we hunted and we didn’t just eat the meat. We ate the organs, liver, brain, etc. The liver is really full of that stuff and doesn’t make us high.

    • @PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Why would you think it’s appropriate to comment if you’re just guessing? This is not a question where random guessing is appropriate.

      Your reasoning is correct in that we do eat brains, and of course they don’t get us high.

      You’re wrong is the fact that brain is mostly fat. That’s incredibly misleading. The brain is entirely nervous tissue plus supporting things like vessels. It does contain lots of myelin which serves to insulate axons, since nervous tissue is electrical. Myelin happens to contain a lot of fatty acids, but it is in no sense “fat”.

    • @sir_pronoun@lemmy.worldOP
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      42 years ago

      Shamefully, no. I was pondering my melatonin fruit gummies after lots of coffee, though. Coffee tends to get me a bit high sometimes. (I hadn’t eaten any gummies after the coffee, I was just thinking about them.)

      • @sock@lemmy.world
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        02 years ago

        melatonin is a horomone and doesnt get you high just regulates how you should sleep

        coffee or caffeine inhibits your bodies ability to relax ur muscles (by mimicking adenosine i think) but doesnt make you high or more awake (like people seem to think). could cause a heart attack tho but that’s super rare if ur a normal person.

        i take it you havent dabbled much in the drug world, so id remain ignorant. its more blissful. but if you really want to dabble please research yourself and not news articles. actual studies. news articles will lie and propagate misinfo.

        • Wrench Wizard
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          22 years ago

          I have a bevy of prior drug experience and still consider the way excess caffeine makes me feel to be what my idea of a mild high is.

          The mind and body work hand in hand. Change one and the other feels it!

  • @rengoku2@lemm.ee
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    -82 years ago

    Even if it was legal and ethical, don’t eat far-left’s. You’ll be so woke you will regret it.