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Diets high in fat, sugar and processed foods are lowering children's IQ, a new study suggests. The report says that eating habits among three year olds shapes brain performance as they get older.
A predominantly processed-food diet at the age of three is directly associated with a lower IQ at the age of eight and a half, according to a Bristol-based study of thousands of British children.
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children is tracking the long-term health and wellbeing of around 14,000 children.
Food packed with vitamins and nutrients notably helped boost mental performance as youngsters got older, the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports.
Researchers said toddlers' diets could change IQ levels later in childhood, even if eating habits improve with age.
"This suggests that any cognitive/behavioural effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes to dietary intake," the authors wrote.
During the study, parents completed questionnaires detailing 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.
Every one-point increase in the study's dietary pattern score – a record of processed fat intake – was associated with a 1.67-point fall in IQ.
The brain grows at its fastest rate during the first three years of life.
"It is possible that good nutrition during this period may encourage optimal brain growth," the report added.
The School Food Trust's director of research, Michael Nelson, said: "Given that around 23% of children start school either overweight or obese, it's absolutely clear that healthy choices as part of their early development will stand children in good stead – not only for keeping a healthy weight as they grow up, but as this evidence suggests, improving their ability to do well at school.
"These findings also demonstrate the importance of helping everyone involved with children's early development to get the information and advice they need on good nutrition."
參考譯文：
一項(xiàng)新研究指出，高脂肪及高糖類(lèi)膳食及加工食品降低了孩子們的IQ。該報(bào)告稱，三歲孩子的飲食習(xí)慣定型了其長(zhǎng)大后的大腦性能。
通過(guò)對(duì)布里斯托爾城市成千上萬(wàn)名英國(guó)兒童的研究得出，三歲時(shí)以加工食品為主的膳食習(xí)慣直接導(dǎo)致了其八歲半時(shí)較低的IQ水平。
這項(xiàng)關(guān)于父母-兒童的Avon縱向研究跟蹤了大約14,000名兒童的長(zhǎng)期健康和福利情況。
據(jù)《流行病學(xué)與社區(qū)健康》期刊報(bào)道，富含維他命和營(yíng)養(yǎng)素的食品能增強(qiáng)孩子成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中的心理特質(zhì)。
研究者表示，初學(xué)走路孩子的膳食能改變其稍后童年時(shí)期的IQ水平，即使隨著年齡漸長(zhǎng)改變了其膳食習(xí)慣。
作者寫(xiě)道，“幼兒期任何跟膳食習(xí)慣有關(guān)的認(rèn)知/行為效應(yīng)可能會(huì)一直持續(xù)到稍后的童年期，即使之后改變了其膳食習(xí)慣。”
在本次研究中，父母填寫(xiě)了列有其孩子3歲、四歲、七歲及八歲半時(shí)所攝入的食品及飲料類(lèi)型和頻率的問(wèn)卷。
每增加一個(gè)本研究的膳食模式得分——加工脂肪的攝入記錄，IQ水平則降低1.67個(gè)點(diǎn)。
在生命最初的三年時(shí)間里，大腦的成長(zhǎng)速度是最快的。
該報(bào)告補(bǔ)充道，“這個(gè)時(shí)期良好的營(yíng)養(yǎng)供給將保證大腦的最佳發(fā)育，這是很可能的。”
School Food Trust的研究總監(jiān)Michael Nelson說(shuō)：“現(xiàn)在已知約23%的孩子入學(xué)的時(shí)候不是超重就是肥胖，因此，大家要明確的是，早期成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中有益健康的選擇將使孩子維持在一個(gè)良好的狀態(tài)中——不僅是其長(zhǎng)大后可以保持一個(gè)健康的體重，也如本研究結(jié)果所建議的，還可以提高其在學(xué)校方方面面的能力。
“這些研究發(fā)現(xiàn)也論證了幫助那些跟孩子早期成長(zhǎng)有關(guān)的人員獲取他們需要的有關(guān)良好營(yíng)養(yǎng)知識(shí)方面信息和建議的重要性。”
