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So, I hear brain consumes 20% of the body's energy, and also according to studies people with only one hemisphere can function mentally fine with little to no problems.

My question is, how does that affect calorie intake of the whole body or the brain? Is the calorie intake halved for the brain, cause it only has one hemisphere?

Source how it's done: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4729844/

Hormoz
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  • Welcome Hormoz. Do you have any reference to support that the entire central nervous system is halved? This is not simply a Q&A site, here we are expected to show the results of our own investigations into a subject here, you can [edit] to tell us what your searches found and where the sticking points are. You should also take our [tour] and refer to the [help] for guidance as to the ways of any site you post on, see our section on how to ask. – Jiminy Cricket. Mar 25 '22 at 08:29
  • I mean that's what it is for, either partially or fully. That's like asking "do you have any source that addition is actually done in math?". A simple google search would suggest that such a thing exists. There are MRI scan pictures to suggest this too.

    Of course I don't have all the details so I might not be right on everything, but that doesn't change the nature of the question which is about calorie intake after it.

    I can include some source though regardless. Edited.

     – Hormoz Mar 25 '22 at 09:03
  • What I'm saying is, there needs to be a differentiation between "brain" and "cerebral hemisphere", there's a category mismatch in the question. Please re-read my previous comment. – Jiminy Cricket. Mar 25 '22 at 09:08
  • So, as far as I know, there several ways to go about this, some which might not remove as much brain matter, some which can remove nearly half of it. Some parts might remain though.

    As you say, the wording might not be completely accurate, but due to variety in how this is done, I am not quite sure how else I should word it? I can replace the word brain with hemisphere so edited.

    I am asking for cases where nearly or completely half of a brain is removed.

     – Hormoz Mar 25 '22 at 09:20
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    How much energy is used by a missing hemisphere? None. Brain energy use is determined roughly by number of neurons. One would need to know the % of total neurons removed by that resection to give an estimate. If you provide that information, we'll approximate the reduction of energy by the reduced brain mass. Thanks – anongoodnurse Mar 25 '22 at 16:07
  • So the reason I am asking is not because I want to know how much energy on hemisphere consumes normally. It's mainly because when you remove one hemisphere, the other hemisphere takes over most of the work done by other. In other words, one hemisphere is doing the work of both. I wanted to know if that would mean the energy consumption of that hemisphere would rise due to that. – Hormoz Mar 25 '22 at 20:26
  • Ah, interesting. I don't think the remaining neurons do twice the work most of the work is "silent"), but they may increase dendrite formation. I don't think the answer is known, but it doesn't remain the same. – anongoodnurse Mar 26 '22 at 13:02

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