Fast-food consumption linked to lower test score gains in 8th graders

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-12/osu-fcl122214.php

Public Release: 22-Dec-2014
Ohio State University

The amount of fast food children eat may be linked to how well they do in school, a new nationwide study suggests.

Researchers found that the more frequently children reported eating fast food in fifth grade, the lower their growth in reading, math, and science test scores by the time they reached eighth grade.

Students who ate the most fast food had test score gains that were up to about 20 percent lower than those who didn't eat any fast food, said Kelly Purtell, lead author of the study and assistant professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University.

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The results remained even after the researchers took into account a wide variety of other factors that may have explained why those with high fast-food consumption might have lower test scores, including how much they exercised, how much television they watched, what other food they ate, their family's socioeconomic status and characteristics of their neighborhood and school.

"We went as far as we could to control for and take into account all the known factors that could be involved in how well children did on these tests," Purtell said.

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This study can't say why fast-food consumption is linked to lower grades, she said. But other studies have shown that fast food lacks certain nutrients, especially iron, that help cognitive development. In addition, diets high in fat and sugar -- similar to fast-food meals -- have been shown to hurt immediate memory and learning processes.

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