Before you give your child his first potato chip or bite of ice cream, you may want to think twice. Nutritional deficiencies in a child's first years of life, which is a critical time for brain development, can set the stage for a rough future -- one filled with behavioral problems that can last into the teenage years, according to a study.
The study involved close to 1,600 3-year-old children born in 1969 and 1970 from an island in the Indian Ocean called Mauritius. The children who were malnourished at the age of 3 with deficiencies in protein, iron, zinc and some B vitamins were more likely to have behavioral problems in later life, from age 8 to 11 to 17.
Protein, iron, zinc and B vitamins are essential to healthy brain development. Researchers suggested that children who are malnourished early on develop deficits in brain function that put them at risk of behavioral problems from hyperactivity to aggression as they get older. Some signs of malnourishment the researchers used to gauge their study included iron-deficiency anemia, thin and discolored hair and cracked lips. The children also took IQ tests at the age of 11 and researchers collected reported behavioral problems from parents and teachers.
The malnourished children were more likely than healthy children to break rules, act out at school, get in fights and more, researchers said, and other factors such as poverty or parents' educational level were ruled out. Researchers concluded that the study points at a way to help reduce behavioral problems among children and teens.
ABC News December 1, 2002
As parents it is your responsibility to look out for the safety and well being of your child. While this statement seems obvious, and most parents would not think twice about keeping their child safe while crossing the street, teaching them to avoid the hot stove, stay away from strangers and the like, the majority of parents feed their children potentially harmful food without a thought for the later consequences.
Of course, I'm not saying that a treat here and there would be a problem. What I am referring to is the fact that most toddlers recognize the sign of the "golden arches" long before they are speaking in full sentences. Why? Because they are often raised on French fries, fast-food hamburgers and orange soda, or if "raised" is a bit of a stretch, are taught that French fries and Coke is an acceptable meal (worse yet, they may come to think of it as a reward).
Surely most parents feed their children junk food with good intentions, and the children in the study were likely malnourished due to a lack of healthy food options rather than an over-reliance on junk food. Yet here in America many people are fortunate enough to have the option of healthy food (it's sad that we can't ALL have this option).
So when we consciously choose to avoid healthy food and instead feed our children food loaded with preservatives, chemicals and pesticides -- and devoid of nutrients -- it begs the question: Are we really looking out for our children?
Children will not know which foods are healthy unless you as parents teach it to them. I could not agree with the study more that feeding our children healthy foods -- and surely ensuring that they are not malnourished -- will have a huge impact on the near epidemic of behavioral problems that are showing up in schools and households all over the country. A treat here and there, as I mentioned, is not the problem (but even then why not make it a healthy treat?). It is when junk food becomes the norm -- even our schools are pedaling junk food to kids! -- that malnourishment, and then physical and behavioral problems, results.
So when it comes time to make a choice between fast food or real food -- do your kids a favor and teach them what's the right choice right from the very beginning. Even if they fight you on it now, they will, believe me, thank you when they are older and still in great health.
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