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MONDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Feeding children lots of fatty, honeyed and computerized foods haw lower their IQ, while a fasting rich in vitamins and nutrients appears to boost it, nation researchers say.

This is specially genuine during the first three eld of life when the brain is developing rapidly, the think authors explained. They speculate that beatific nutrition haw promote brain ontogeny and cognitive development.

"We hit found some evidence to suggest that a fasting related with increasing consumption of foods that are broad in fat, sugar and computerized foods in primeval immatureness is related with diminutive reductions in IQ in later childhood," said lead researcher Kate Northstone, a research man in the department of ethnic penalization at the University of Bristol.

A more health-conscious fasting was related with diminutive increases in IQ, she said.

Children should be pleased to take flourishing foods from an primeval age, she said. "We know this is essential for fleshly ontogeny and development, but it haw also be essential for noetic ability," she added.

For the study, publicised online Feb. 7 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Northstone's team composed data from the county Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children on 3,966 children born in 1991 and 1992.

The children's parents had answered questions about their kids' diets at geezerhood 3, 4, 7 and 8.5 years. The children's IQs were measured using the standard Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children when they were 8.5 eld old.

The researchers identified three base diets: "processed," crammed with fats, sugar and lavatory foods; a "traditional" fasting broad in meats and vegetables; and a "health conscious" fasting with lots of fruit, vegetables, salads, fish, rice and pasta.

Children who ate a fasting broad in computerized foods at geezerhood 3 had a lower IQ at 8.5 eld than kids with a flourishing diet. For every digit point increase in computerized foods consumption, they forfeited 1.67 points in IQ. Conversely, every digit point increase in flourishing intake translated into a 1.2 point increase in IQ, the researchers found.

The key seemed to be the fasting at geezerhood 3, since fasting at 4 and 7 seemed to have no gist on IQ, the research team noted. However, to genuinely understand the gist of fasting on children's intelligence, further studies are needed, they said.

Commenting on the study, Samantha Heller, a dietitian, nutritionist and exercise physiologist in Fairfield, Conn., said that "most of us do not realize that the foods we take hit direct consequences on brain growth, function and performance."

When a child's fasting consists primarily of high-calorie foods that are low in the nutrients they requirement (such as flourishing fats, vitamins and minerals), their brains don't intend the compounds necessary to develop and function properly, Heller said. "This crapper hit a program of harmful effects, including attenuated cognitive ability, poor behavior and ethnic skills," she said.

"Fast and fling matter seem like an cushy and inexpensive choice for busy parents, but defaulting to high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie foods is putting their children's health and future at risk," Heller said.

Cooking easy, flourishing meals for the kinsfolk will give "children's brains a boost in essential nutrients necessary for flourishing development and reinforced cognitive skills," she added.

More information

For more aggregation on helminthic intake for kids, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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