vegetarianism and IQ : ) (article)

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Kids With High IQs Grow Up to Be Vegetarians

December 15, 2006 08:40:46 PM PST

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

 

Health: Children's Health News

 

FRIDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- As a child's IQ rises, his taste for meat in

adulthood

declines, a new study suggests.

 

British researchers have found that children's IQ predicts their likelihood of

becoming

vegetarians as young adults -- lowering their risk for cardiovascular disease in

the

process. The finding could explain the link between smarts and better health,

the

investigators say.

 

" Brighter people tend to have healthier dietary habits, " concluded lead author

Catharine

Gale, a senior research fellow at the MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre of the

University

of Southampton and Southampton General Hospital.

 

Recent studies suggest that vegetarianism may be associated with lower

cholesterol,

reduced risk of obesity and heart disease. This might explain why children with

high IQs

tend to have a lower risk of heart disease in later life.

 

The report is published in the Dec. 15 online edition of the British Medical

Journal.

 

" We know from other studies that brighter children tend to behave in a healthier

fashion as

adults -- they're less likely to smoke, less likely to be overweight, less

likely to have high

blood pressure and more likely to take strenuous exercise, " Gale said. " This

study provides

further evidence that people with a higher IQ tend to have a healthier

lifestyle. "

 

In the study, Gale's team collected data on nearly 8,200 men and women aged 30,

whose

IQ had been tested when they were 10 years of age.

 

" Children who scored higher on IQ tests at age 10 were more likely than those

who got

lower scores to report that they were vegetarian at the age of 30, " Gale said.

 

The researchers found that 4.5 percent of participants were vegetarians. Of

these, 2.5

percent were vegan, and 33.6 percent said they were vegetarian but also ate fish

or

chicken.

 

There was no difference in IQ score between strict vegetarians and those who

said they

were vegetarian but who said they ate fish or chicken, the researchers add.

 

Vegetarians were more likely to be female, of higher social class and better

educated, but

IQ was still a significant predictor of being vegetarian after adjustment for

these factors,

Gale said.

 

" Vegetarian diets are associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk in a

number of

studies, so these findings suggest that a such a diet may help to explain why

children or

adolescents with a higher IQ have a lower risk of coronary heart disease as

adults, " Gale

said.

 

One expert said the findings aren't the whole answer, however.

 

" This study left many unanswered questions such as: Did the vegetarian children

grow up

in a household with a vegetarian parent? Were meatless meals regularly served in

the

household? Were the children eating a primarily vegetarian diet at the age of

10? " said

Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of

Texas

Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

 

" In addition, we don't know the beliefs or attitudes of the parents of the

children, nor do

we know if there was a particular event that led these children to becoming

vegetarian in

their teens or adulthood, " Sandon said.

 

As the study showed, more women than men chose a vegetarian diet, Sandon noted.

" Other research shows that women in general will focus more on their health than

men.

So, if they believe that a vegetarian diet will have health benefits, they are

more likely to

follow it, " she said.

 

Given these factors, " we cannot draw any solid conclusions from this research, "

Sandon

added.

 

Another expert agreed that a vegetarian diet is healthy.

 

" The evidence linking vegetarianism to good health outcomes is very strong, "

said Dr.

David L. Katz, the director of the Prevention Research Center and an associate

professor of

public health at the Yale University School of Medicine.

 

" Studies, for example, of vegetarian Seventh-Day Adventists in California

suggest that they

have lower rates of almost all major chronic diseases, and greater longevity,

than their

omnivorous counterparts, " Katz said. " Evidence is also strong and consistent

that greater

intelligence, higher education, and loftier social status -- which tend to

cluster with one

another -- also correlate with good health. "