 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| | | | | | | | | | |
Vegetarianism: The Choice Of The
'More Intelligent' Child
By: Jeremy Laurance
It's official - vegetarians really are smarter. But it is not because of
what they eat. Bright children are more likely to reject meat and opt
to become vegetarians when they grow up, a study has shown.
Clever veggies are born not made.
The finding helps explain how a team of vegetarians won the BBC
Test the Nation competition in September, when they beat off
competition from six other teams including butchers, public school
pupils and footballers' wives to achieve the highest overall IQ
score.
The top scoring individual in the contest, Marie Bidmead, 68, a
mother of five from Churcham, Gloucester, was also a vegetarian.
"I think it shows we veggies are good thinkers. We think about what
we eat for a start" she said.
Researchers from the University of Southampton who conducted
the study agree. They suggest that vegetarians are more
thoughtful about what they eat.
But they say it is unclear whether bright children choose to become
vegetarians for the health benefits or for other reasons, such as a
concern for animals, or as a lifestyle choice.
The scientists began investigating the link between IQ and
vegetarianism because people with higher intelligence have a
lower risk of heart disease, which has long puzzled doctors.
A vegetarian diet is associated with a lower cholesterol level, lower
blood pressure and less obesity - all risk factors for heart disease.
The researchers wondered if this could explain the health
advantage of having a high IQ.
They cite Benjamin Franklin, the 18th-century statesman and
scientist, who said that a vegetarian diet results in a "greater
clearness of head and quicker comprehension". He may not have
realised that this was because of whom was eating rather than what
was eaten.
However, early last century doctors were less enamoured of the
practice. Robert Hutchison told the British Medical Association in
1930: "Vegetarianism is harmless enough though it is apt to fill a
man with wind and self-righteousness."
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, was based on
more than 8,000 people born in 1970 whose IQ was measured at age
10. Now aged 36, the researchers found 366, just under one in 20,
said they were vegetarians (a third of these ate chicken or fish but
none touched red meat).
As well as being brighter, the vegetarians were better educated and
of higher social class but the link with intelligence remained
statistically significant even after adjusting for these factors.
Despite their intelligence they were not wealthier and more likely to
be working for charities or in education.
"It may be that ethical considerations determined not just their diet
but also their choice of employment" the report concludes:
"Our finding that children with greater intelligence are more likely to
report being vegetarian as adults, coupled with the evidence on the
potential health benefits of a vegetarian diet, may help to explain why
higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of
coronary heart disease in adult life."
The benefits of forsaking meat;
* A vegetarian diet tends to be lower in fat, higher in fibre and
vitamins
* Vegetarian diets are associated with lower cholesterol, lower
blood pressure, and less obesity
* Vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease, less diabetes and
may have less risk of cancer and dementia
* The Vegetarian Society, claimed to be the oldest in the world, was
founded in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1847.
Mahatma Ghandi, George Bernard Shaw and Linda McCartney were
members
* 'Vegetarian' is derived from the Latin vegetus, meaning 'lively' and
was intended to be suggestive of the English 'vegetable'.
By: Jeremy Laurance
Article: Vegetarianism: The Choice of the 'More Intelligent' Child
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1215-05.htm
Originally Published (Independent/UK)
December 15, 2006
'More Intelligent' Child
By: Jeremy Laurance
It's official - vegetarians really are smarter. But it is not because of
what they eat. Bright children are more likely to reject meat and opt
to become vegetarians when they grow up, a study has shown.
Clever veggies are born not made.
The finding helps explain how a team of vegetarians won the BBC
Test the Nation competition in September, when they beat off
competition from six other teams including butchers, public school
pupils and footballers' wives to achieve the highest overall IQ
score.
The top scoring individual in the contest, Marie Bidmead, 68, a
mother of five from Churcham, Gloucester, was also a vegetarian.
"I think it shows we veggies are good thinkers. We think about what
we eat for a start" she said.
Researchers from the University of Southampton who conducted
the study agree. They suggest that vegetarians are more
thoughtful about what they eat.
But they say it is unclear whether bright children choose to become
vegetarians for the health benefits or for other reasons, such as a
concern for animals, or as a lifestyle choice.
The scientists began investigating the link between IQ and
vegetarianism because people with higher intelligence have a
lower risk of heart disease, which has long puzzled doctors.
A vegetarian diet is associated with a lower cholesterol level, lower
blood pressure and less obesity - all risk factors for heart disease.
The researchers wondered if this could explain the health
advantage of having a high IQ.
They cite Benjamin Franklin, the 18th-century statesman and
scientist, who said that a vegetarian diet results in a "greater
clearness of head and quicker comprehension". He may not have
realised that this was because of whom was eating rather than what
was eaten.
However, early last century doctors were less enamoured of the
practice. Robert Hutchison told the British Medical Association in
1930: "Vegetarianism is harmless enough though it is apt to fill a
man with wind and self-righteousness."
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, was based on
more than 8,000 people born in 1970 whose IQ was measured at age
10. Now aged 36, the researchers found 366, just under one in 20,
said they were vegetarians (a third of these ate chicken or fish but
none touched red meat).
As well as being brighter, the vegetarians were better educated and
of higher social class but the link with intelligence remained
statistically significant even after adjusting for these factors.
Despite their intelligence they were not wealthier and more likely to
be working for charities or in education.
"It may be that ethical considerations determined not just their diet
but also their choice of employment" the report concludes:
"Our finding that children with greater intelligence are more likely to
report being vegetarian as adults, coupled with the evidence on the
potential health benefits of a vegetarian diet, may help to explain why
higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of
coronary heart disease in adult life."
The benefits of forsaking meat;
* A vegetarian diet tends to be lower in fat, higher in fibre and
vitamins
* Vegetarian diets are associated with lower cholesterol, lower
blood pressure, and less obesity
* Vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease, less diabetes and
may have less risk of cancer and dementia
* The Vegetarian Society, claimed to be the oldest in the world, was
founded in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1847.
Mahatma Ghandi, George Bernard Shaw and Linda McCartney were
members
* 'Vegetarian' is derived from the Latin vegetus, meaning 'lively' and
was intended to be suggestive of the English 'vegetable'.
By: Jeremy Laurance
Article: Vegetarianism: The Choice of the 'More Intelligent' Child
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1215-05.htm
Originally Published (Independent/UK)
December 15, 2006
