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Junk food diet linked to lower IQ
by AFP wire via gan - Raw Story Tuesday, Feb 8 2011, 6:12pm
international / health related / other press

No surprises here, take a look at moron America, the Corporate originator of Junk/Fast 'Food'

PARIS – Toddlers who have a diet high in processed foods may have a slightly lower IQ in later life, according to a British study described as the biggest research of its kind.

The conclusion, published on Monday, comes from a long-term investigation into 14,000 people born in western England in 1991 and 1992 whose health and well-being were monitored at the ages of three, four, seven and eight and a half.

Parents of the children were asked to fill out questionnaires that, among other things, detailed the kind of food and drink their children consumed.

Three dietary patterns emerged: one was high in processed fats and sugar; then there was a "traditional" diet high in meat and vegetables; and finally a "health-conscious" diet with lots of salad, fruit and vegetables, pasta and rice.

When the children were eight and a half, their IQ was measured using a standard tool called the Wechsler Intelligence Scale.

Of the 4,000 children for which there were complete data, there was a significant difference in IQ among those who had had the "processed" as opposed to the "health-conscious" diets in early childhood.

The 20 percent of children who ate the most processed food had an average IQ of 101 points, compared with 106 for the 20 percent of children who ate the most "health-conscious" food.

"It's a very small difference, it's not a vast difference," said one of the authors, Pauline Emmett of the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol.

"But it does make them less able to cope with education, less able to cope with some of the things in life."

The association between IQ and nutrition is a strongly debated issue because it can be skewed by many factors, including economic and social background.

A middle-class family, for instance, may arguably be more keen (or more financially able) to put a healthier meal on the table, or be pushier about stimulating their child, compared to a poorer household.

Emmett said the team took special care to filter out such confounders.

"We have controlled for maternal education, for maternal social class, age, whether they live in council housing, life events, anything going wrong, the home environment, with books and use of television and things like that," she said.

The size of the study, too, was unprecedented.

"It's a huge sample, it's much much bigger than anything anyone else has done," she said in an interview with AFP.

Emmett said further work was needed to see whether this apparent impact on IQ persisted as the children got older.

Asked why junk food had such an effect, she suggested a diet that was preponderantly processed could lack vital vitamins and elements for cerebral development at a key stage in early childhood.

"A junk food diet is not conducive to good brain development," she said.

The paper appears in the peer-reviewed Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published by the British Medical Association (BMA).

© 2011 AFP

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/junk-food-diet-linked-iq/

COMMENTS

Teens 'tomorrow's heart attack victims'
by Adam Cresswell via stele - The Australian Tuesday, Feb 8 2011, 6:24pm

HEALTH experts are warning that today's schoolkids are shaping up to be tomorrow's cancer and heart attack statistics, after a huge new survey of 12,000 pupils showed nearly 25 per cent were overweight or obese and many more led unhealthy lives.

The vast majority of the children, 85 per cent, did less exercise than the minimum healthy amount of 60 minutes daily, while less than a quarter ate the recommended amount of vegetables and just over one-third ate a healthy ration of fruit.

Experts from the Cancer Council Australia and the National Heart Foundation say the findings, based on children in years 8 to 11 from 237 schools nationwide, are a "wake-up call" for parents and politicians.

Cancer Council Australia chief executive Ian Olver said poor diets and inadequate exercise were turning children into a "chronic disease time bomb".

"The rule of thumb is that 75 per cent of obese teenagers will become obese adults," Professor Olver said.

"We now have unequivocal evidence that not only is obesity a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes, but also a risk factor for cancer, particularly of the bowel and breast.

"What we are going to see is the incidence of these diseases is going to rise. It was going to anyway, because of the ageing of the population, but it's going to again because of obesity."

The survey -- the first national nutritional and lifestyle survey of young Australians since 1985 -- found one-third of the 12,000 students drank more softdrink than was good for them.

Heart Foundation chief executive Lyn Roberts said she was concerned at the findings showing the influence of the food industry on unhealthy diet choices. More than half the children (55 per cent) said they tried a new food or drink product in the past month because they had seen it advertised.

In addition, 25 per cent had chosen a fast food outlet because it had a special offer or giveaway with a meal, while nearly 20 per cent chose a food or drink because it was linked to a movie or sports personality they liked.

"This piece of research confirms what we've feared for some time: that the high school students of today will grow up to be the heart attack victims of tomorrow," Dr Roberts said.

© 2011 News Limited

http://tinyurl.com/49ax3ug

junk food
by manfred Wednesday, Feb 9 2011, 10:43pm

So the mainstream finally got around to running tests on junk food -- makes ya think.

From memory, about October last year an artist in New York, for a bet, video-tested a MacDonald's Happy Meal over a period of 6 months. The fries remained visually unchanged after 3 months -- the burger looked to be in pristine condition except for some shrinkage caused by dehydration.

The Photographer claimed that her two pet dogs wouldn't touch the Maccas 'food.' It seems dogs are smarter than most humans, maybe it's cos dogs are immune to advertising.

Why would any moron rush out to feed their children junk food and expect a healthy, talented, or gifted child? Think the next time you're tempted to feed your kids poison.

An article in the 80's from the A.M.A. ( the American Morticians Society) stated clearly that the shelf life of modern American 'stiffs,' I mean cadavers, lasted longer without refrigeration, due to the increase of preservatives in our food, and therefore reduced running cost's to their collective businesses, I'm glad someone is benefiting!

Fast food is a win for the corporations and a big lose for people dumb enough to feed their children and themselves on this crap.

Maccas and similar outlets offer a wide range of 'fabulous' nutritionless, toxic, pretend-food products, and don't forget to 'Super Size' and help your kids become good American morons, I mean voting citizens!