No-one could ever really argue for the health, or even nutritional, benefits of junk food. That is why junk food advertising always revolves around the apparent amazing lifestyle and incredibly attractive people that come to you when you consume it. Either that, or you get a free plastic frog to go with it. If you are a parent though here is even more motivation to ensure that your children eat well; kids who eat healthier food when they are very young have a higher IQ.
This has been highlighted in new research led by researchers from the University of Adelaide. The study involved more than 7,000 children and looked for a link between eating habits at six months, fifteen months, and two years and the IQ of the children at age eight.
The results showed that children who were breastfed at six months of age and then who between 15 to 24 months ate a diet that was rich in legumes, cheese, fruit, and vegetables had an IQ that was on average two points higher by the time they were eight years old. This was by comparison with children whose diet regularly involved chocolate, sweets, soft drinks and chips in the first two years of life.
These differences in IQ are not massive but it confirms what common sense tells you which is that what you put into your body determines the quality of your body, your mind, and your life. In the early years of life certain nutrients are required for brain development and if they are not present in the diet that development is restricted. In a fast food, junk food society it is possible for a child to be eating but not be being fed. Kids, and adults, today could be starving on a full stomach.
It’s a no-brainer then, feed your children well. As a society after all we do want more smart people, or else we’ll just have more mindless consumers on our hands and no-one would want that…would they?
