Childhood Diet Contributes to Later-Life IQ

Researchers followed 3,966 children for 8.5 years, tracking their diets and measuring their IQs¹. The bottom line is clear; the better children eat, the smarter they are. The United States needs to think in terms of optimizing its human potential.

Your brain function is highly dependent on healthy nutrition for optimal function. Nutrients like DHA, iron, iodine, zinc, sulfur, and high quality protein are vital to human intelligence during formative years. Furthermore, co-factor nutrients found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains not only calm brain inflammation but also facilitate key gene signaling in the brain for better brain health. Such nutrition is especially important during times of high brain development, such as the first three years of life.

Researchers showed that those children who ate a predominately high fat, high sugar, processed foods diet at age 3 had lower IQsat age 8.5 even if their diets improved after age 3. On the other hand, children with diets dominated by fresh, healthy foods at age 3 had higher IQs at age 8.5. The data showed that the worse the diet, the lower the IQ and the better the diet, the higher the IQ. In other words, there is a window of opportunity early in life to make an impact on the future intelligence of a child.

A health system that focuses on disease fails to take into account the other side of the coin. An intelligent population is not only more productive but its citizens are also healthier because they are smart enough to take better care of themselves. It is not a mystery that a whole section of the U.S. population is overweight, less productive, and not so bright – a trend that continues unabated. And these people also want others to pay for their healthcare despite their eventual health problems will mostly be self-inflicted.

The failure of our government to ensure a healthy food supply, which was the original excuse for the formation of the FDA in 1906, is the primary source of this problem from a public health perspective. We have the First Lady promoting a rather moronic plate to the dumbest of us all, when the actual source of the problem is the industries that produce our food in a junky way and try to addict a population to their branded chemical flavoring systems and nutrition depleted crops. If we let the current trend continue, we will have a society in bitter class and health services warfare. We can all do our part and change our country one child at a time. Better nutrition is a key part of a better future for everyone. Spread the word.