Fast Food May Be Slowing The Development Of Your Child's Brain

Fast food may be limiting children's learning capabilities. Recent findings published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics show that children who frequently ate McDonalds, Burger King or similar types of sustenance were more likely to test lower in math, science and reading.

"Research has been focused on how children's food consumption contributes to the child obesity epidemic. Our findings provide evidence that eating fast food is linked to another problem: poorer academic outcomes," said lead study author Kelly Purtell of Ohio State University.

For the study, researchers examined the habits of over 11,700 young American 10 year olds. They also looked for certain factors such as family income and place of living, as well as physical activity and TV watching.

Findings revealed that fast food was lacking in sufficient iron. Unfortunately, foods lacking iron and high in fat and sugar can slow down cognitive processes of the brain, along with the organ's ability to properly focus.

Furthermore, study results showed that about 10 percent of children eat fast food every day, while another 10 percent eat it four to six times in a week. About 8,500 children or 52 percent also eat fast food one to three times in a week.

"Our results show clear and consistent associations between children's fast food consumption in 5th grade and academic growth between 5th and 8th grade," added Purtell. "These results provide initial evidence that fast food consumption is associated with deleterious academic outcomes among children."

Statistics show that fast food accounts for close to 13 percent of the total American diet from 2 to 18 years of age, along with a third of American children between the ages of 2 and 11.

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