fruitella wrote:
: Or is it the other way around - kids with higher IQ scores move
: towards vegetarian dietary habits. Perhaps both.
:
: Also how can one be eating fish and chicken and yet be considered a
: vegetarian? Vegetarians generally do not eat anything that bleeds
: (blood).
:
:
: ------------
:
: Kids With High IQs Grow Up to Be Vegetarians
: December 15, 2006 08:40:46 PM PST
: By Steven Reinberg
: HealthDay Reporter
:
: Yahoo! 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."

This reminds me of a saying: "Any man who is not a communist at the age of
twenty is a fool. Any man who is still a communist at the age of fifty is an
even bigger fool." ;-)

--
Juhana