Processed Foods Lower Children's IQ Scores
Feeding kids fattening, processed foods might not just affect their waistlines, it may also affect their brains.
Research from the United Kingdom and Canada has associated diets high in fat and sugar with slightly lower IQ scores. Results were compiled from survey data, in which parents were asked to record the amount of processed foods they fed their children. More than 4,000 children were evaluated.
Children's diets were assessed when they were three years old. IQ's were then measured at eight and a half. Children that were fed diets high in fat and sugar early in life scored, on average, scored about a point less than peers that were fed nutritious foods when they were younger. This significant finding occurred regardless of dietary patterns after the age of three. Thus consuming high fat and sugar foods between the ages of four and seven did not affect IQ scores.
The importance of a healthy diet before the age of three may correlate with brain growth rates, whereby the fasted rate occurs by the time children reach three years of age.
This data, though showing an association, does not indicate that poor diets cause lower IQ scores. Furthermore parenting styles, like eating family dinner together, was not controlled. Moreover the large sample size and small, though significant, difference in IQ scores may not have clinical implications.
However this study does highlight the fact that what children eat when they are young affects their mental development, in addition to their physical development. Feeding kids diets that are rich in healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, may help their overall development in the long run.
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