WEDNESDAY, Feb. 9 (HealthDay News) -- The type of diet a child consumes may have an impact on their IQ, according to research published online Feb. 7 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Kate Northstone, Ph.D., of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, and colleagues assessed dietary patterns in children at 3, 4, 7, and 8.5 years of age via food-frequency questionnaires completed by parents. They used the Wechsler Intelligence Scale to assess IQ when the children were 8.5 years. Data were available for 3,966 children.
The researchers found a negative association between a "processed" diet (high sugar and fat content) at age 3 and IQ at age 8.5, with a one standard deviation increase in dietary pattern score associated with a 1.67-point drop in IQ. However, a "health-conscious" diet at 8.5 years was positively associated with IQ, with a one standard deviation increase in dietary pattern score tied to a 1.2-point IQ increase.
"There is evidence that a poor diet associated with high fat, sugar and processed food content in early childhood may be associated with small reductions in IQ in later childhood, while a healthy diet, associated with high intakes of nutrient rich foods described at about the time of IQ assessment may be associated with small increases in IQ," the authors write.
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