Evening star., 1951-01-26
Appetite of Bruin Roised
By Use of GIutumic Acid
Normal Intelligence Coins
Proven in Recent Tests
By Thomas R. Henry

Definite evidence that normal intel
Igence can be raised by glutamic acit
hitherto widely disputed, has been -
ported to the Office of Naval ResearcS
from one of its sponsored Investigators
In one case, says DR.. Samuel P. Bess-
man Of Washington University Medical
School, st. Louis. formerly of George
Washington University here, child
with an average intelligence quotient Of
leo, about the average of the population.
was raised to the near-geniuS class with
an I. @. of 125, in less than year.
In another case a child with below
normal intelligence who was showing
signs of deterioration was raised well
into the normal class but reverted to
her former condition as soon as the
treatment was stopped.
Found in Most Foods.
Glutamic acid is one of the amino
acids. nitrogen containing substances
which are the building blocks of pro-
teins and are essential to life. 1t is
found in most foods, but in quite
limited quantities. 1t appears to have
q unique effect on brain tissue, the
physical medium of all intelligence.
Normally the brain feeds on only one
substance, blood sugar or glucose. Its
metaboliSm can be markedly diminished
by depriving 1t of this substance and
eventually Inconsistencies ensues. Start
ing with experiments on epilepsy, 1t
was developed some years ago that
there apparently was an increase in the
intelligence of mental detectives. This
was quite small and disputable. The
conclusion was based on the averages
Of considerable numbers, not all of
whom showed the good effects, and it
was hard to reach valid conclusions
in the maze Of statistics There also was
the difficulty Of judging or appraising
the validity Of intelligence tests.
DR.. Bessman, in the Navy-sponsored
project, used different approach
namely, intensive study Of few selected
individuals with frequent checkups on
their mental status.
First was 12-year-old girl who def
initely was below average intelligence.
Such children grow slowly in mental
capacity for the first few years Of life.
Then the growth stops and they begin
deteriorating. When glutamic acid was
given to this child after the deteriora-
ton started. growth began again and
in a few days became much more rapid
than 1t had been before. It reached the
same rate as that expected of normal
children. AS soon as the treatment was
stopped the child reverted to a declining
intelligence lower than at the start.
Could Correct Deficiencies.
Mental deficiency easily could be con-
sidered due to some physical condition
of the brain which could be corrected
with appropriate treatment. The major
interest, naturally. was in whether
glutamic acid could increase the in
telligence of the average child.
AS test of this, child was selected
from family whose average I. @. was
near the genius level. The little girl,
however, had been rather dull-not
more so than an average child but in
comparison with the rest of her family.
This improvement stayed with her.
Other tests showed that the amino
acid did no good when the mental defect
was due to definite physical injury
to the brain, such as would result from
ing sickness.
The tentative conclusion is that the
substance in some way regulates the
ability of the brain to make use of its
natural food, glucose. It might be said
to give the brain better appetite.
There are relatively large amounts Of
glutamic acid present in the average
normal brain. Its source is unknown.
When the substance is injected into
rats or mice. none of it gets into the
brain in period of four hours
There appears to be considerable
evidence that it is synthesized in the
brain itself.