Food habits of the children determine their aptitude level. Emphasizing the negative impact of junk food on children, a new study found children who consume too much junk food having a low level of IQ and those who follow a healthy diet having a high level.
Researchers from the University of Adelaide closely monitored the eating habits of children at different levels of development like six months, 15 months and two years and compared the facts with the children's IQ levels at eight years.
Dr Lisa Smithers and colleagues included more than 7,000 children for reaching a conclusion. They examined a variety of factors like home prepared food, breastfeeding, ready-prepared baby food and junk foods.
The whole study was based on the principle that diet supplies the nutrients needed for the development of brain. Supporting the theory the investigators found healthy diet like cheese and fruit helping young children to improve their IQ levels.
"Diet supplies the nutrients needed for the development of brain tissues in the first two years of life, and the aim of this study was to look at what impact diet would have on children's IQs," Smithers said in a statement.
"We found that children who were breastfed at six months and had a healthy diet regularly including foods such as legumes, cheese, fruit and vegetables at 15 and 24 months, had an IQ up to two points higher by age eight."
Researchers also found children who ate unhealthy food during the first two years having a negative impact on their IQ.
"Those children who had a diet regularly involving biscuits, chocolate, lollies, soft drinks and chips in the first two years of life had IQs up to two points lower by age eight," Smithers explained.
Apart from that Smithers and her team noticed the effects of ready-prepared baby food on IQ levels changing according to age. At an early stage like six months, it didn't help the baby, on the other hand badly affected the children's IQ. However, the same food showed a positive impact at 24 months.
Through their findings, researchers emphasize the role played by healthy food in making children intelligent.
"While the differences in IQ are not huge, this study provides some of the strongest evidence to date that dietary pattern from six to 24 months have a small but significant effect on IQ at eight years of age," Smithers said. "It is important that we consider the longer-term impact of the foods we feed our children."
The findings of the study have been published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.
