Brain food

Although the meals and snacks kids eat at school are undoubtedly important, new research suggests that children’s diet in their early years has a big impact, not just on their physical health, but also on their ability to learn.

A long-term health research project by the Institute of Education at London University and Bristol University found that kids who eat a junk food diet (foods high in fat and sugar as well as take-aways and highly processed foods) during pre-school years do less well at school than other children.

What the children ate at later ages didn’t have the same impact on learning but the effects of the early diet persisted for several years. Levels of improvement at school up to the age of 10 were worst among the children who ate the most junk food at age three.