Food Determines Their Intelligence.. This is How Diet Affects Teenagers' Cognitive Abilities

SadaNews - A new analytical study published in the journal Advances in Nutrition, which aggregates the results of 73 diverse studies to examine how diet affects cognitive performance and academic achievement in youth aged 8 to 19, revealed significant and impactful results regarding unhealthy nutrition patterns in the early years of life, particularly during infancy, which can have long-term consequences on intelligence during adolescence.

Very Early

According to what was published by Neuroscience News, Professor Hailey Young from the Psychology Department at Swansea University and the lead researcher of the study stated: "What stands out is that the foundations of cognitive health are established very early on."

Malnutrition in early years was associated with lower intelligence levels years later, during adolescence, even when considering many other influencing factors.

A More Complex Situation

During adolescence itself, the situation is more complex, as some interventions show promising results, but the evidence remains inconclusive. For this reason, there is a need for better-designed studies to determine whether adolescence represents a real second chance to support brain development through nutrition, rather than simply assuming so.

Neuroplasticity

After infancy, adolescence represents a second critical period of neuroplasticity, characterized by extensive structural and functional changes, partly driven by hormonal and endocrine changes during puberty.

To highlight how the brain develops over time, this review relies on longitudinal studies that explore the links between early life diet and later cognitive and academic performance. This comprehensive life course approach acknowledges that later abilities are built on earlier growth stages, allowing the research team to study how early nutrition can affect outcomes years later.

Long-term Evidence

Researchers evaluated long-term evidence regarding a wide range of nutrients and dietary components, including iron, iodine, choline, vitamin D, polyphenols, fatty acids, grains, and multiple dietary interventions.

Researchers suggest that the effects of nutrition depend on several factors, including the timing of nutritional exposure during development, the characteristics of the studied population, the duration and type of intervention, and the specific cognitive abilities being measured.

7 Principles in an Emerging Field

To advance research in this emerging field, researchers propose seven guiding principles for future studies:

• Adopt a comprehensive life course perspective
• Go beyond focusing solely on nutrition
• Utilize biologically credible biomarkers
• Include puberty and sex-specific analyses
• Standardize outcome measures
• Prioritize context and population characteristics
• Adjust for major confounding variables.

Researchers conclude that more high-quality research is needed to determine whether adolescence represents a unique opportunity to support cognitive growth through nutritional interventions.