The brain uses a large percentage of the body’s glucose, but too much or too little glucose can have a detrimental effect on brain function. When you drink a can of soda, which contains ten teaspoons of table sugar, that sugar is absorbed into a bloodstream that usually only contains a total of four teaspoons of blood sugar. Your blood sugar level skyrockets, setting off alarms in the pancreas, and a large amount of insulin comes out to deal with the excess blood sugar. Some sugar is quickly ushered into the cells, including brain cells, and the rest is put into storage or into fat cells. When all this is done, maybe in about one hour, the blood sugar may fall dramatically and low blood sugar occurs. These rapid swings in blood sugar produce symptoms of impaired memory and clouded thinking. So think twice before swigging that soda—and don’t assume artificially sweetened soda is better for you. Instead, try water or an herbal tea.