Children's IQ and diet

A healthy diet could boost children's IQ. Researchers from Bristol University studied the eating habits of 3,966 children taking part in the long-term Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The children's eating habits were recorded at three, four, seven and eight-and-a-half years old. The researchers found three main types of diet: processed diets, high in fat, sugar and convenience foods; traditional diets of meat, potato and vegetables and 'health-conscious' diets of salad, fruit and fish. The children all took IQ tests when they were eight-and-a-half years old and those who ate a diet high in processed foods at the age of three had slightly lower IQs. The researchers took into account the effects of mothers' level of education, social class and duration of breastfeeding.