Fast Food Worsen IQ?

For those of you who like to take the kids to eat at fast food restaurant, it is proper, you think again. A study conducted by researchers from the University of London, England, found the result that children are often fed meals from fast food to grow the lower value of intelligence (IQ) than children who were fed from freshly-cooked food.

Children who eat more fast food meals will have a lower IQ in the future. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)

The study involved 4,000 Scottish children aged 3-5 years. Researchers wanted to know if the type of meat consumed by children every day affect cognitive abilities and their growth. The meat was compared between freshly-cooked food and fast food.

As a result, parents with higher socio-economic status is more often give their children freshly-cooked food and a positive effect on children's IQ. In contrast, children of parents with lower socio-economic status more frequently consume fast food leads to lower child's intelligence. "It makes sense that the kind of food we eat will affect brain development," said Dr. Sophie von Stumm, from the psychology department of the University of London, as Daily Mail reported on October 4, 2012.

Lower socio-economic status was linked to more children having fast food, which led to lower intelligence. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)

"This research will go some way to providing hard evidence to support the various high-profile campaigns aimed at reducing the amount of fast food consumed by children in the UK."

Dr von Stumm said her findings highlighted that differences in children’s meals were also a social problem. "Mothers and fathers from less privileged backgrounds often have less time to prepare a freshly cooked meal from scratch for their children," she said.

And an American study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health in 2010, showed that children who consume junk food such as pizza, chips and biscuits before the age of three may end up having lower IQs than children who ate home-cooked meals with fruit and vegetables.

These children were tested five years later and had IQ scores that were as much as five points lower than their healthier-eating peers.

The researchers suspected that the negative effect of eating junk food so early in life may not be altered by future healthy habits because brain development is hindered. *** [DAILY MAIL | AMIRULLAH | KORAN TEMPO 4019]
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