We should always read the original publication before we post any news. Most information from news is usually not trustable and sometimes is actually pseudoscience!
The author, Sophie von Stumm, admitted in her abstract that: "...however, they only accounted for a negligible amount of the variance in cognitive change."
With regard to "a negligible amount of the variance", the author tried to put the blame on defect data: "Second, the data collected on the GUS study do not include a detailed record of participants' food consumption. Such information would have helped to substantiate the current results, as well as to make them better comparable to previous studies in this area. Similarly, slow and fast food categorization may not always be correct because general nutritional values are assumed for different meal categories (e.g. some take-aways may have more fresh ingredients than restaurant meals do). Perhaps related to this, only small SES-related differences in the frequency of slow versus fast food meals were observed, resulting in low effect estimates."
It could never be overemphasized: Never learn science via news from non-scientific journals!
*You can find the original article at here.
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研究：吃速食IQ恐變低 越吃越窮難翻身
原文網址: http://www.ettoday.net/news/20121004/110611.htm#ixzz28OwZY2oo
生活中心／綜合報導
有研究證實，學齡前常吃速食的兒童，智力會低於那些3餐均衡飲食的小朋友，且智力較低者多出身自中下階層家庭，造成社會問題。研究者指出，有了這些確鑿的證據，希望政府能支持減少兒童快餐消費的各項活動。
英國倫敦大學對4千位3至5歲的蘇格蘭地區兒童調查，結果發現，常吃鮮食和現煮食物的小朋友，智力高於速食為主的孩童。
「這是常識，我們吃的食物類型，會影響大腦發育。」研究人員之一、索菲博士指出，過去的研究多著重於特定分類的食物，如蛋白質、澱粉、蔬菜等，而很少分析綜合膳食對智商的影響。
除此之外，研究者也發現，大部份有餘力為小朋友準備3餐的家庭，多擁有較高社經地位，父母的積極行為影響了後代的智商；反之，那些忙於工作、貧窮的家庭，迫於現實多只能讓孩子吃速食裹腹。
「弱勢地區的學校更應該平衡孩子的飲食，讓他們能發展自己的認知潛力。」索菲博士強調，孩子飲食的不平等，將造就許多社會問題。
今年8月，澳洲阿德萊德大學的研究也得到類似結果，常吃速食的小孩平均智力低於正常飲食孩童2%；2010年，美國研究指出，3歲就開始常吃餅乾、披薩、薯條等食物的小孩，5年後智力低於同齡學童5%。
研究者推估，食物對智力的影響恐怕是不可逆的，若大腦發育已受阻，恢復正常飲食也無濟於事。
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Fast food children ‘develop lower IQs’: Junk diet has a lasting effect, warn experts
•Lower socio-economic status linked to more children having fast food, leading to lower intelligence
By Lucy Osborne
PUBLISHED: 23:44 GMT, 3 October 2012 | UPDATED: 23:45 GMT, 3 October 2012
Children given more fast food meals will grow up to have a lower IQ than those who regularly eat freshly-cooked meals, according to a study.
Childhood nutrition has long lasting effects on IQ, even after previous intelligence and wealth and social status are taken into account, it found.
The study examined whether the type of main meal that children ate each day had an impact on their cognitive ability and growth.
It looked at 4,000 Scottish children aged three to five years old and compared fast food with freshly-cooked food.
The study, undertaken by an academic at Goldsmiths, University of London , found that parents with a higher socio-economic status reported that they gave their children meals prepared with fresh ingredients more often, which positively affected their IQ.
Lower socio-economic status was linked to more children having fast food, which led to lower intelligence.
Dr Sophie von Stumm, from the department of psychology at Goldsmiths, said: ‘It’s common sense that the type of food we eat will affect brain development, but previous research has only looked at the effects of specific food groups on children’s IQ rather than at generic types of meals.
‘This research will go some way to providing hard evidence to support the various high-profile campaigns aimed at reducing the amount of fast food consumed by children in the UK.’
Dr von Stumm said her findings highlighted that differences in children’s meals were also a social problem. ‘Mothers and fathers from less privileged backgrounds often have less time to prepare a freshly cooked meal from scratch for their children,’ she said.
‘These children score lower on intelligence tests and often struggle in school.
‘Schools in less privileged areas must do even more to balance children’s diet, so that they can achieve their cognitive potential.
‘It shows that the freshness and quality of food matters more than just being full, in particular when children are young and developing.’
Similar discoveries were made in an Australian study published in August. It found that while eating healthily can give a boost to intelligence, toddlers on a diet of drinks and sweets were less bright as they got older.
By the age of eight the ‘junk food’ children had IQs up to two points lower than their healthy counterparts, according to the researchers from the University of Adelaide .
And an American study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health in 2010, showed that children who consume junk food such as pizza, chips and biscuits before the age of three may end up having lower IQs than children who ate home-cooked meals with fruit and vegetables.
These children were tested five years later and had IQ scores that were as much as five points lower than their healthier-eating peers.
The researchers suspected that the negative effect of eating junk food so early in life may not be altered by future healthy habits because brain development is hindered.
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