High IQ kids go veggie
Links between intelligence and the vegetarian diet were demonstrated last year when a team of veggies won the BBC’s Test the Nation IQ battle. Now a new study published in the British Medical Journal shows that intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life. Researchers from Southampton University found that people who are vegetarians by the age of 30, had an IQ five points higher than average when they were 10. This might explain why people with a higher IQ are healthier; vegetarians generally suffer less heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, various cancers, diverticular disease, bowel disorders, gallstones, kidney stones, and osteoporosis.
Gale et al., 2007. IQ in childhood and vegetarianism in adulthood: 1970 British cohort study. British Medical Journal. 334 (7587) 245.
About the author
Dr. Justine Butler
Justine joined Viva! in 2005 after graduating from Bristol University with a PhD in molecular biology. After working as a campaigner, then researcher and writer, she is now Viva!’s head of research and her work focuses on animals, the environment and health. Justine’s scientific training helps her research and write both in-depth scientific reports, such as White Lies and the Meat Report, as well as easy-to-read factsheets and myth-busting articles for consumer magazines and updates on the latest research. Justine also recently wrote the Vegan for the Planet guide for Viva!’s Vegan Now campaign.
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