Fraction of basal metabolism required by brain growth prenatally

Value 60 %
Organism Human Homo sapiens
Reference Roth G, Dicke U. Evolution of the brain and intelligence. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 May9(5):250-7. p.254 box 2PubMed ID15866152
Primary Source Aiello, L.C. et al. (2001) In defense of the Expensive Tissue Hypothesis. In Evolutionary Anatomy of the Primate Cerebral Cortex (Falk, D. and Gibson, K.R., eds), pp. 57–78, Cambridge University Press
Comments The brain exceeds all other ‘expensive’ organs by its extremely rapid growth that prenatally requires 60% of basal metabolism, and this continues during the first year slowing down until the age of 7 years (primary source)
Entered by Uri M
ID 106136