Children's diets 'linked to bad behaviour'

Updated 16.22 Wed Sep 05 2007

Keywords: Food for the Brain report, Children, junk food

Children who eat junk food are nearly three times more likely to behave badly, according to new research.

The finding comes from the Food for the Brain report which also linked good academic performance with a healthy diet containing plenty of vegetables, oily fish, wholegrains, nuts and seeds, and water.

Overall, a picture of a nation of poorly-fed children emerged

Parents were asked to rate their children's behaviour on a scale of one to five and answer questions about how often they ate different types of foods in an online questionnaire.

Of those who ate fried, takeaway or processed foods, 44 per cent were thought to be badly behaved.

Only 16 per cent of those who never ate such food were deemed to have poor behaviour.

Overall, a picture of a nation of poorly-fed children emerged while SAT scores showed those eating what was deemed a "very good" diet gained 11 per cent higher marks than those eating a "very poor" or "neutral" diet.

Up to 10,222 children between the age of six and 16 were surveyed through the online questionnaire.