Research published in the journal Pediatrics linked starting solid foods too early to obesity. Researchers tracked 850 babies and their mothers for 3 years, calculating the children’s body mass index at age 3. Babies who were formula fed or who were breastfed less than 4 months and who started solid foods before 4 months had a 25% chance of being obese at age 3. However, starting solid foods after 4 months resulted in only a 5% obesity risk. Unfortunately, as previous studies have shown, children who are overweight at age 3 have a “fat chance” of changing.
Research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found evidence processed food could lower children’s IQ. British researchers tracked what 14,000 children ate and drank at ages 3, 4, 7 and 8.5. They found that in a child’s first 3 years a diet high in fatty, sugary, processed foods could result in a small decrease in IQ five years later. Although a similar diet didn’t have a similar effect at ages 4 and 7, a nutrient-rich diet in the first 3 years could result in a small increase in IQ. It seems that information should be processed – not food.
Extensive research has shown that young children exposed to lots of germs are healthier as they grow up. However, women have a higher asthma rate than men – 8.5% versus 7.1%. Also, women are likelier to have allergies and are 3 times likelier to have autoimmune disorders. An article published in Social Science and Medicine attributed this to higher standards of cleanliness for little girls. Little girls are less likely to play outside and more likely to have their play supervised by parents. Just a gram of uncontaminated soil contains 10 billion microbial cells, but in 2011 little girls are “dirt-poor”.
Finally, research at the University of California/Davis has found that even parents of popular children have something to worry about. After studying students from 19 middle and high schools in North Carolina for 4.5 years, researchers determined 33% of students engage in bullying. The top and bottom 2% of a school’s social hierarchy were the least aggressive. The vast majority of bullying was done by students moving up a school’s popularity ladder - the higher they moved, the more they bullied. The researchers’ conclusion was that seemingly normal, well-adjusted kids can be aggressive because status increases aggression – to an unacceptable status quo.
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