Giving your child junk food can lower their IQ, claim scientists

Researchers find evidence dietary patterns of children aged six months to two years can affect their IQ at eight years old
Breast milk, cheese, fruit and vegetables by age two improve IQ

PUBLISHED: 09:17 GMT, 9 August 2012 | UPDATED: 11:05 GMT, 9 August 2012

A young girl eating bread and chocolate spread.

Eating too much chocolate before the age of two can result in a lower IQ aged eight

Eating junk food can reduce a child's IQ, according to new research.

A study found that while eating healthily can give a boost to intelligence, toddlers on a diet of drinks and sweets were less bright as they got older.

By the age of eight the ‘junk food’ tots had IQs up to two points lower than their healthy counterparts, according to researchers from the University of Adelaide.

The findings reinforce the need to provide children with healthy foods at a crucial, formative time in their lives, the authors claim in the European Journal of Epidemiology.

Dr Lisa Smithers, who led the study, said: 'While the differences in IQ are not huge, this study provides some of the strongest evidence to date that dietary patterns from six to 24 months have a small but significant effect on IQ at eight years of age.

'It is important that we consider the longer-term impact of the foods we feed our children.'

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Her team looked at the link between the eating habits of children at six months, 15 months and two years, and their IQ at eight years of age.

The study of more than 7000 children compared a range of dietary patterns, including traditional and contemporary home-prepared food, ready-prepared baby foods, breastfeeding, and ‘discretionary’ or junk foods.

'Diet supplies the nutrients needed for the development of brain tissues in the first two years of life, and the aim of this study was to look at what impact diet would have on children’s IQs,' said Dr Smithers.

Michelle Waldron breastfeeding her daughter Tara

Breastfed children are more likely to succeed in primary school than those who are brought up on fizzy drinks

Children could boost their chances of passing tests by eating the right food from a young age

'We found that children who were breastfed at six months and had a healthy diet regularly including foods such as legumes, cheese, fruit and vegetables at 15 and 24 months, had an IQ up to two points higher by age eight.

'Those children who had a diet regularly involving biscuits, chocolate, sweets, soft drinks and chips in the first two years of life had IQs up to two points lower by age eight.

'We also found some negative impact on IQ from ready-prepared baby foods given at six months, but some positive associations when given at 24 months.'

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@connor , brisbane: You're an illiterate.

- nathan shlongstein , NY, 11/8/2012 22:34

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If you're feeding your children junk food suggests that the parents aren't over endowed with the bright gene anyway, so what do you expect.

- malwood9 , thirsk,uk, 10/8/2012 12:38

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I think reading the DM lowers your IQ

- Matthew Penn , London, 10/8/2012 12:31

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That is a load of nonsense! If you look at what's around us there is alot of technology isn't there. technology is the main reason we have low IQ. Lets just Say, a kid is playing ps3 nonstop for hours on end eventually hes not wanting to learn or do anything and soon his brain cells decline and basically hes gonna end up being a vegetable isn't he. look back 30-40 years ago there wasn't much technology back then and people were alot smarter then. plus they had a better education system with strict rules, look now people are all on there phones and txting and dropping out of school you see technology has a big affect on today's learning capability's. And This is coming from a 19yr old!

- connor , brisbane, 10/8/2012 11:09

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The state of the average punter seen emerging from local junk food outlets tends to validate this hypotheisis. Interestingly, those who serve appear both smarter and thinner, possibly from running around trying to dish up the junk fast enough to meet demand from the IQ impaired.

- nick , sydney australia, 10/8/2012 07:39

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IQ is based almost entirely on genetics, junk food isn't going to lower it. What we are seeing is that parents that feed their children junk food probably have a lower IQ, and since IQ is genetic so do their children.

- Casey , Maine, US, 10/8/2012 05:54

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SO DO FLUORIDES, IN TOOTH PASTE, SO WHY DO THEY ADD THEM, KNOWING THAT THEY ADD LITTLE TO IMPROVE TEETH. REGARDS ............. WASP

- WASP , WALES, 10/8/2012 03:30

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SO DO FLUORIDES, IN TOOTH PASTE, SO WHY DO THEY ADD THEM, KNOWING THAT THEY ADD LITTLE TO IMPROVE TEETH. REGARDS ............. WASP

- WASP , WALES, 10/8/2012 03:29

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Maybe their parents read the DM.

- Ted , Coventry, 10/8/2012 01:37

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A cursory glance at McDonalds clientele would easily confirm this hypothesis.