Consuming fish has been associated with potential health benefits ranging from cardiovascular to mental health. This is due to the beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) – both essential nutrients found in fish.
Omega 3 is also known to play an important role in the growth and functioning of neural tissues with beneficial effects on cognitive health.
Previous studies have also shown an association between omega-3 and better sleep in children including improved intelligence.
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Better sleep may act as a possible mediator between fish intake and cognition and to understand this relationship and the mediating pathways which take place, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania undertook a study to assess whether 1) more frequent fish consumption is associated with fewer sleep disturbances and higher IQ scores in schoolchildren, 2) such relationships are not accounted for by social and economic confounds, and 3) sleep quality mediates the fish-IQ relationship.
A cohort of 5419, 11-year-olds, comprising 54 percent boys and 46 percent girls, undertook a questionnaire about how often they consume fish in the past month. Their options ranged from “never” to “at least once a week.”
The children also took the Chinese version of an IQ test called the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, which examines verbal and non-verbal skills such as vocabulary and coding.
Their parents then answered sleep questions using the standardized Children Sleep Habits Questionnaire, which included topics such as sleep duration and frequency of night waking or daytime sleepiness.
The data was analysed after controlling for factors such as parental education, occupation and marital status including the number of children in a Home.
The researchers found that children who consumed fish once a week scored 4.8 points higher on the IQ exams than those who did not eat any fish at all while children who consumed fish once in a while scored 3.3 points higher.
Increase fish consumption also showed fewer sleep disturbances in children which indicates better sleep quality.
Lack of sleep and poor cognitions are associated with antisocial behaviour and omega-3 supplements have been found to reduce this behaviour and as such consuming fish would have the same effect as shown in this study.
Children who sleep better leads to better behaviour, positive school performance and other real-life outcomes.
The researchers recommend introducing fish in your kid’s diets and increasing it to once a week as it will have a beneficial effect on improving sleep which is a better option than getting kids to sleep well. Besides fish consumption will also improve cognitive health and have other beneficial outcomes for your children.
Source: Scientific Reports
