A DIETITIAN has revealed how long zombies could survive on an all-brain diet – and how it would make them behave.
While the Halloween favorites are far from real, researchers applied science to their typical behaviors while analyzing their diets.
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An all-brain diet would give zombies little energy from carbohydrates – leaving them slow and lethargic
Dietitian Grace Derocha told the Washington Post how zombies largely follow a keto diet – as eating only brains contains very few carbohydrates.
Brains are made up of 60 per cent fat and 40 per cent protein, meaning zombies could lack energy by not eating anything else.
The creatures could also notice “keto flu” symptoms, a common condition that affects people who need to consume more carbs, Derocha explained.
She said: “They’re moaning, they’re very slowly walking around in a daze with brain fog.”
Other than this, however, brains appear to be very healthy.
The organ is 80 per cent water weight, meaning it’s a good source of fluids and contains plenty of nutrients to energize and strengthen bones and connective tissue.
But a brain-only diet can’t be sustained forever.
Derocha explained they lack key nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
Meanwhile, Timothy Verstynen, a Carnegie Mellon cognitive scientist, suggested zombies might have lost key functions in their decaying brains, which would then impact their behavior, movement, and speech.
He told the Washington Post: “They may be constantly attacking because the decision-making areas in the prefrontal cortex are damaged.”
This damaged brain theory also explains why zombies have no issue when it comes to eating friends and family.
Mr Verstynen argues that zombies could have a damaged core face network, a region in the brain that makes them incapable of differentiating people; to them, everyone looks like a tasty stranger.
When it comes to zombies’ ravenous appetite, this can be explained by a damaged hypothalamus, one that’s producing too much of the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin.
In terms of their speech, this behavior is also regulated in the brain, in two areas called Broca’s and Wernicke’s.
If these are damaged, it wouldn’t be too much of a…