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Our View: Textbook authors' reasoning hard to fathom ... Emergency Services ... 'We tried to de-escalate it' ... Our View: Textbook authors' reasoning hard to fathom ... Emergency Services ... NEW RESEARCH More fast food perils Study finds link between fast food consumption, low test scores By Melissa Erickson More Content Now MailTribune.com By Melissa Erickson More Content Now Posted Mar. 19, 2015 @ 11:37 am By Melissa Erickson More Content Now Posted Mar. 19, 2015 @ 11:37 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> Fast food’s link to obesity and related diseases is well documented, and now new truths are emerging about negative effects of eating too much fast food. Researchers at Ohio State University and University of Texas, Austin, recently 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. The results were significant. 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 Ohio State University. “There’s a lot of evidence that fast-food consumption is linked to childhood obesity, but the problems don’t end there,” Purtell said. “Relying too much on fast food could hurt how well children do in the classroom.” Was it really the food’s fault? The popularity of kale and quinoa belie the fact that America is a fast-food nation. A recent Gallup poll found that eight out of 10 Americans dine on fast food at least once a month, and that 76 percent think fast food is “not too good” or “not good at all for you.” The result remained the same even when 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. About the study The study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort, a nationwide study of 11,740 students who were tested in reading/literacy, mathematics and science in fifth and eighth grades. They also completed a food consumption questionnaire in fifth grade. “Fast-food consumption was quite high in these students,” Purtell said. “We’re not saying that parents should never feed their children fast food, but these results suggest fast-food consumption should be limited as much as possible.” Purtell emphasized that this study cannot prove that fast-food consumption caused the lower academic growth observed in this study, but she is confident that fast food is explaining some of the difference in achievement gains over time. 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. By Melissa Erickson More Content Now MailTribune.com By Melissa Erickson More Content Now Posted Mar. 19, 2015 @ 11:37 am » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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