Vegetarianism: the choice of the 'more intelligent' child
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Published: 15 December 2006
It's official - vegetarians really are smarter. But it is not because of
what they eat. Bright children are more likely to reject meat and opt to
become vegetarians when they grow up, a study has shown. Clever veggies are
born not made.
The finding helps explain how a team of vegetarians won the BBC Test the
Nation competition in September, when they beat off competition from six
other teams including butchers, public school pupils and footballers' wives
to achieve the highest overall IQ score.
The top scoring individual in the contest, Marie Bidmead, 68, a mother of
five from Churcham, Gloucester, was also a vegetarian. "I think it shows we
veggies are good thinkers. We think about what we eat for a start," she
said.
Researchers from the University of Southampton who conducted the study
agree. They suggest that vegetarians are more thoughtful about what they
eat. But they say it is unclear whether bright children choose to become
vegetarians for the health benefits or for other reasons, such as a concern
for animals, or as a lifestyle choice.
The scientists began investigating the link between IQ and vegetarianism
because people with higher intelligence have a lower risk of heart disease,
which has long puzzled doctors.
A vegetarian diet is associated with a lower cholesterol level, lower blood
pressure and less obesity - all risk factors for heart disease. The
researchers wondered if this could explain the health advantage of having a
high IQ. They cite Benjamin Franklin, the 18th-century statesman and
scientist, who said that a vegetarian diet results in a "greater clearness
of head and quicker comprehension". He may not have realised that this was
because of whom was eating rather than what was eaten.
However, early last century doctors were less enamoured of the practice.
Robert Hutchison told the British Medical Association in 1930:
"Vegetarianism is harmless enough though it is apt to fill a man with wind
and self-righteousness."
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, was based on more than
8,000 people born in 1970 whose IQ was measured at age 10. Now aged 36, the
researchers found 366, just under one in 20, said they were vegetarians (a
third of these ate chicken or fish but none touched red meat).
As well as being brighter, the vegetarians were better educated and of
higher social class but the link with intelligence remained statistically
significant even after adjusting for these factors. Despite their
intelligence they were not wealthier and more likely to be working for
charities or in education. "It may be that ethical considerations determined
not just their diet but also their choice of employment," the report said.
It concludes: "Our finding that children with greater intelligence are more
likely to report being vegetarian as adults, coupled with the evidence on
the potential health benefits of a vegetarian diet, may help to explain why
higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of
coronary heart disease in adult life."
The benefits of forsaking meat
* A vegetarian diet tends to be lower in fat, higher in fibre and vitamins
* Vegetarian diets are associated with lower cholesterol, lower blood
pressure, and less obesity
* Vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease, less diabetes and may have
less risk of cancer and dementia
* The Vegetarian Society, claimed to be the oldest in the world, was founded
in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1847. Mahatma Ghandi, George Bernard Shaw and Linda
McCartney were members
* 'Vegetarian' is derived from the Latin vegetus, meaning 'lively' and was
intended to be suggestive of the English 'vegetable'