Too much junk food might be bad for the brain, as well as for the body. Researches reveal that students who ate fast food often obtained test scores that were 20 percent lower than those who didn’t consume any fast food.


Ohio State University assistant professor of human sciences Kelly Purtell released a study showing that increased frequency of fast food consumption led to lower test results in reading, math and science.


"There’s a lot of evidence that fast-food consumption is linked to childhood obesity, but the problems don’t end there" said Purtell. "Relying too much on fast food could hurt how well children do in the classroom".


During the study children who had fast food every day or four-six times a week had notably lower gains from fifth to eighth grade, compared to children who didn’t eat any fast food. Kids who had fast food just one-three times per week showed lower gains in one subject, math. The research took into account other factors that could have affected the test scores, such as the amount of exercise the children got, what else they ate, how much TV they watched and their family’s socioeconomic status, but the results remained unvaried.


The study didn’t explore the reason why the amount of fast food kids eat may be linked to how well they do in school, but other investigations have shown that diets high in fat and sugar impede learning and cognitive processes.


“We’re not saying that parents should never feed their children fast food, but these results suggest fast food consumption should be limited as much as possible” Purtell cautioned.


If there was a sign on the door of McDonald’s saying “Caution: Eating our food will cause your child to do worse in school”, would parents make healthier choices?


Source: Eco Child's Play

Related post: Not so Happy Meals

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