A new study of researchers in Finland has found that a healthy diet can help to improve children's reading skills during the first three years of school.Researchers from University of Eastern Finland and University of Jyvaskyla, followed 161 school children between the age of six to eight from the first grade to third grade.The team analysed the children's diets using food diaries, and assessed their academic skills using standardised tests.
The children's diets followed the Baltic Sea Diet and Finnish Nutrition recommendations,which advise a diet high in vegetables,fruits and berries,fish,whole grains and unsaturated fats,and one that is low on red meat,sugary products and saturated fat.
The results showed that children who followed a healthy diet in line with the Baltic Sea Diet and Finnish Nutrition recommendations, performed better in tests to measure reading skills than children who had an unhealthier diet.
The results were independent of many other factors,including the kids' socio-economic status,physical activity,body adiposity (body fat),and physical fitness,leading the team to suggest that parents,schools and governments could help improve children's reading skills just by improving the availability of healthy foods.
The study findings also provide further evidence to suggest the importance of a healthy diet on their academic performance. A 2015 study published in the Public Health Nutrition journal found that eating breakfast could also have a positive effect on children's school performance,with the quality of the breakfast also playing an important role.
After looking at 5000 children between the ages of nine and eleven from over 100 schools,researchers from Cardiff University,UK,found that children who ate breakfast were up to twice as likely to attain an above-average performance in tests than those who skipped breakfast. But children who ate an unhealthy breakfast such as sweets and chips,showed no improvement at all.
Research by Oxford University,UK,also found that levels of omega-3 fatty acids "significantly predicted" school children's ability to concentrate and learn,with higher levels of omega-3,found in oily fish such as salmon,associated with better reading and memory and fewer behavioral problems.If provide a proper diet for children, in their early age,will lead to improve their memory power to catch up their studies and expect a very good brain development.