A healthy diet is linked to higher reading skills within the first three school years, shows a recent study from Finland. Constituting a part of the study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland focusing on Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children, the study was published within the European Journal of Nutrition.
The study involved 161 children aged 6-8 years old and followed au courant them from the primary grade to the third grade in a class. The standard of their diet was analyzed using food diaries, and their academic skills with the assistance of standardized tests.
The closer the diet followed the sea Diet and Finnish nutrition recommendations – i.e. high in vegetables, fruit and berries, fish, whole grain, and unsaturated fats and low in chicken, sugary products, and saturated fat – the healthier it absolutely was considered.
Those who did better in tests measuring reading skills than their peers with poorer diet quality are children whose diet was rich in vegetables, fruit, berries, whole grain, fish, and unsaturated fats, and low in sugary products, study showed.
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Independent of reading skills in Grade 1 is the positive associations of diet quality with reading skills in Grades 2 and three, the study also found. From Grade 1 to Grades 2–3, children eating low-quality food improved terribly in their reading skills than children with a healthy diet, the results indicate.
“Also independent of the many confounding factors, like fitness, body adiposity, physical activity, and socioeconomic status, and are another significant observation, were the associations of diet quality with reading skills,” says Researcher Eero Haapala, Ph.D., from the University of Eastern Finland and also the University of Jyväskylä.
Parents, schools, governments, and corporations can improve the provision of healthy foods.
A healthy diet seems to be a crucial thing about supporting learning and academic performance in children. By making healthy choices every meal, it’s possible to market a healthy diet and enhance diet quality.
Aside from getting their children involved in kids reading programs, parents and schools have a crucial role in making healthy foods available to children. Furthermore, governments and corporations play a key role in promoting the provision and production of healthy foods.