Children brought up on healthy diets are more intelligent compared with their junk food eating counterparts, new research suggests。
Toddlers fed a diet packed high in fats, sugars, and processed foods had lower IQs than those fed pasta, salads and fruit, it was found。
The effect is so great that researchers from the University of Bristol said those children with a "healthier" diet may get an IQ boost。
Scientists stressed good diet was vital in a child's early life as the brain grows at its fastest rate during the first three years of life。
This indicated head growth at this time is linked to intellectual ability and "it is possible that good nutrition during this period may encourage optimal brain growth"。
Scientists tracked the long term health and wellbeing of around 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992 as part of the West Country's Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)。
Parents were quizzed about the types and frequency of the food and drink their children consumed when they were three, four, seven and eight and a half years old。
They were marked on a sliding scale which ranged from minus two for the most healthy to 10 for the most unhealthy。
IQ was measured using a validated test – the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – of 4,000 children when they were eight and half years old。
The results found after taking account of potentially influential factors, a predominantly processed food diet at the age of three was associated with a lower IQ at the age of eight and a half, irrespective of whether the diet improved after that age。
Every 1 point increase in dietary pattern score was associated with a 1.67 fall in IQ。
新研究发现，那些饮食健康的孩子要比老吃垃圾食品的同龄人聪明。
研究发现，经常吃高脂肪、高糖分食物及加工食品的幼儿的智商要低于常吃面食、沙拉和水果的同龄人。
食物对智力的影响很大，英国布里斯托大学的研究人员说饮食更健康的孩子会有更高的智商。
科学家强调说在儿童的早期生活中良好的饮食结构极其重要，因为在生命的头三年中，孩子的大脑发育得最快。
这表明了这个时期的头部发育与智力有关，而且“这个时期的良好营养可能会促进大脑的发育”。
科学家们追踪调查了出生于1991年和1992年的1.4万名儿童的长期健康及富裕状况，这项调查是面向英国西南部各郡的“埃文亲子纵向研究”中的一部分。
在这些儿童三岁、四岁、七岁和八岁半时，研究人员向孩子的父母询问了孩子所摄入的饮食的种类，以及隔多长时间进食。
研究人员根据相应增减对照表给孩子们的饮食情况打分，分数区间为-2到10，-2表示最健康，10表示最不健康。
研究人员在其中的4000个孩子八岁半时，用韦氏儿童智力量表(一种经过认证的测验工具)给他们测了智商。
结果显示，如果将潜在的影响因素考虑在内的话，一个在三岁时以吃加工食品为主的孩子在八岁半时的智力会较低。即使这个孩子在三岁后饮食结构有所改善，结果也还是一样。
饮食结构的得分每增加一分，智商就会降低1.67分。
