Junk food can reduce your kid’s IQ & real food doesn’t....
Today's Post: Tuesday, 2-8-2011
AFP and other news sources had this story today.
AFP titled theirs: “Junk food diet linked to lower IQ – study.”
A thorough British study of 14,000 people born in western England in 1991 and 1992 checked kids at three, four, seven and eight and a half years old.
Parents of the children were asked to fill out questionnaires that listed the kind of food and drink their children consumed.
The researchers found 3 dietary patterns: one high in processed fats and sugar; one "traditional" one mostly high in meat and with some vegetables; and finally a "health-conscious" one with lots of salad, fruit and vegetables, and less meat.
When the children were eight and a half, their IQ was measured using the Wechsler Intelligence test.
They then compared the 20 % of the kids who ate the most processed food with the 20 % of kids who ate the "health-conscious" food.
The processed food kids had an average IQ of 101 points, compared with 106 for the kids who tended to eat more fruits and vegetables and less processed fats and sugar.
It occurred to the researchers that factors such as economic and social background and education might cause both effects.
So the took special care to filter out such potential effects.
"We have controlled for maternal education, for maternal social class, age, whether they live in council housing, life events, anything going wrong, the home environment, with books and use of television….”
Given that the effect was there even after doing that and the large number of kids in the study, it looks quite likely that feeding the kids the processed fats and extra sugars and NOT feeding them as many nutritious foods did cut their IQ’s when a diet without the processed fats and extra sugars and with more fruits and vegetables would have boosted their IQ.
Asked why junk food had such an effect, one of the women researchers suggested junk food tends to lack vital vitamins and other key nutrients needed for brain development in early childhood.
I think she is correct. But I also think the effects of extra blood sugar spikes and decreased circulation from the effects of the extra sugar and refined grains & the resulting blood sugar spikes and from the “processed fats” – hydrogenated oils – also contributed too.
The study appears in the peer-reviewed Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published by the British Medical Association (BMA).
The study I’d like to see is where they take a group of parents and kids and have them all:
learn to eat and eat what we now know is an optimum diet with health OK proteins and oils and with lots of the most nutritious fruits and vegetables,
limit TV watching time per week,
and have everyone in each family get some regular exercise.
The kids would likely have higher IQ’s than 106. But given that the good paying jobs today need people who can learn and think well, even if the kids only tested at more like 110 or 115, that would be very good news.
Certainly, this study suggests that not buying soft drinks or processed foods and bringing them home -- or eating at most fast food places with your kids would be wise.
Today's Post: Tuesday, 2-8-2011
AFP and other news sources had this story today.
AFP titled theirs: “Junk food diet linked to lower IQ – study.”
A thorough British study of 14,000 people born in western England in 1991 and 1992 checked kids at three, four, seven and eight and a half years old.
Parents of the children were asked to fill out questionnaires that listed the kind of food and drink their children consumed.
The researchers found 3 dietary patterns: one high in processed fats and sugar; one "traditional" one mostly high in meat and with some vegetables; and finally a "health-conscious" one with lots of salad, fruit and vegetables, and less meat.
When the children were eight and a half, their IQ was measured using the Wechsler Intelligence test.
They then compared the 20 % of the kids who ate the most processed food with the 20 % of kids who ate the "health-conscious" food.
The processed food kids had an average IQ of 101 points, compared with 106 for the kids who tended to eat more fruits and vegetables and less processed fats and sugar.
It occurred to the researchers that factors such as economic and social background and education might cause both effects.
So the took special care to filter out such potential effects.
"We have controlled for maternal education, for maternal social class, age, whether they live in council housing, life events, anything going wrong, the home environment, with books and use of television….”
Given that the effect was there even after doing that and the large number of kids in the study, it looks quite likely that feeding the kids the processed fats and extra sugars and NOT feeding them as many nutritious foods did cut their IQ’s when a diet without the processed fats and extra sugars and with more fruits and vegetables would have boosted their IQ.
Asked why junk food had such an effect, one of the women researchers suggested junk food tends to lack vital vitamins and other key nutrients needed for brain development in early childhood.
I think she is correct. But I also think the effects of extra blood sugar spikes and decreased circulation from the effects of the extra sugar and refined grains & the resulting blood sugar spikes and from the “processed fats” – hydrogenated oils – also contributed too.
The study appears in the peer-reviewed Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published by the British Medical Association (BMA).
The study I’d like to see is where they take a group of parents and kids and have them all:
learn to eat and eat what we now know is an optimum diet with health OK proteins and oils and with lots of the most nutritious fruits and vegetables,
limit TV watching time per week,
and have everyone in each family get some regular exercise.
The kids would likely have higher IQ’s than 106. But given that the good paying jobs today need people who can learn and think well, even if the kids only tested at more like 110 or 115, that would be very good news.
Certainly, this study suggests that not buying soft drinks or processed foods and bringing them home -- or eating at most fast food places with your kids would be wise.
Labels: junk food fed kids had lower IQ's, kids who ate no junk foods and ate more fruits and vegetables had higher IQ's
posted by David at 1:25 PM
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