We have another very good excuse to force our children to eat well. We know that the advantages of having a good diet are many. Not only are they restricted to the field of health from the physical point of view, but it also helps our cognitive and intellectual development.
People who have had a good diet during their childhood They are smarter during adulthood. And the sooner this is done, the better results. This conclusion has been reached by a group of scientists after subjecting a significant number of children to a scientific essay, as published in the latest issue of the journal "Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine."
This study, coordinated by the Professor of Public Health at Emory University in the United States, Aryeh D. Stein, was carried out between 2002 and 2004 with a large group of 1,448 children. Depressed regions of Guatemala were chosen, with nutritional problems. The children were divided into 2 groups, those who had supplemented their diet based on protein products with a protein-rich milk called "atole" and those who had preferred to use carbohydrates by drinking "fresh", a drink with abundant sugars.
The results show that children who took "atole" in addition to increasing protein intake by 29%, increased total energy consumption by 10% compared to other children, and also obtained better intellectual, cognitive skills and understanding that the rest (including those who started drinking "atole" at an older age)
With this they conclude that there is a proportional relationship between good nutrition and intelligence and that it is greater the sooner it begins. Of course, they have not been able to determine what mechanisms are behind this association.
The next challenge of this group will be to find out if these advantages may remain in the following generations.
