Study says children following healthy diets have higher IQs

Children who eat healthy food have a higher IQ compared with those children who eat a lot of junk food says a new research from the University of Adelaide.

The aim of the study was to look at what impact diet would have on IQs of kids. The study was led by Dr. Lisa Smithers, a Public Health researcher at the University of Adelaide. She examined the link between the eating habits of children at 6 months, 15 months and 2 years and their IQ at 8 years of age. 

The study compared a range of dietary patterns in more than 7,000 children that included home-made food, junk foods, breast feeding, and ready-made baby foods.  

The results indicated that children who were breast fed at six months and had a healthy diet on regular basis as also foods like legumes, cheese, fruit and vegetables at 15 and 24 months had an IQ up 2 points higher by age 8. 

The study also found some negative effect on the IQ from the ready-prepared baby foods given at 6 months and some positive associations when given at 24 months.  

Dr. Smithers said, “Those children who had diet regularly including biscuits, chocolates, sweets, soft drinks and chips in the first 2 years of their lives had IQs up to 2 points  lower by age 8.

This study reinforces the need to provide kids with healthy diets at a crucial, formative time in their lives. 

Dr. Lisa said, “While the differences in IQ are not huge, this study provides some of the strongest evidence to date that dietary patterns from 6 to 24 months have a small but a larger impact on IQ at the age of 8. "