Diet Affects Child’s IQ

Researchers from the University of Bristol have found that a diet high in sugar, fat, and processed foods lowers children’s IQ. The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that three year-olds who ate a diet heavy in processed foods had lower IQs at the age of eight and a half, whereas the IQ scores of children who ate vitamin- and nutrient-rich foods rose as the children aged. Considering the brain grows at its fastest rate during the first three years of life, researchers say, “good nutrition during this period may encourage optimal brain growth.”