Higher-IQ kids more likely to become vegetarians

by Brian White (Subscribe to Brian White's posts)
Dec 15th 2006 4:03PM

Categories: Healthy Kids, Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

In a recent study that was just concluded, 10-year-olds with higher IQ scores were found to more than likely become vegetarians by age 30.

The British-based research studied 8,170 men and women who were born in the U.K. in 1970. In 1980, the participants took an IQ test -- and 20 years later, all participants were asked whether they were currently vegetarians.

366 of the 8,170 participants said they were vegetarians, and the group included nine vegans (who eat no animal products, such as meat, dairy products, and eggs) and 123 people who called themselves vegetarians despite eating fish and chicken. Guess what? Those with higher IQ scores at age 10 were more likely to be vegetarians at age 30, with the difference in IQ points was about five points, according to the study.

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Comments (6)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Atul 12-15-2006 @ 7:31PM

I'm not at all surprised by this. Perhaps people who THINK about what happens in order for meat to get to their plate don't want it as much. I can't believe they considered people who ate chicken or fish as vegetarian too. Eggs and dairy maybe, but not animals that have to be killed.

I'm not a militant vegetarian, yet I have noticed a huge backlash against vegetarians and I wrote a post about it on my blog after I had written an earlier one and noticed all the search results on Google that led to my first blogpost...

http://uh2l.blogs.com/things_ive_noticed/2006/04/antivegetariani.html

Atul

Becky 12-17-2006 @ 12:02AM

who cares about eating chickens and cows? geez, i bet kids in ethiopia would like some kfc and mcdonalds any day. animals dying...how about people dying...as in soldiers?

Atul 12-17-2006 @ 1:11PM

Yes, people dying matters more. If my survival depended on eating animals, I would, and I would hit a deer in the road to avoid hitting people in another vehicle. That being said, (based on your comment on my blog), I do care about chickens and cows, just like you probably care about cats and dogs. What's the difference between eating a cow and eating your neighbor's cat or dog? Not much. Just as much pain and suffering going on. What separates man from beast is that we have the ability to have compassion, (if we want to).

For hundreds of years, my ancestors in India have lived healthy lives, some into their 90's without even touching eggs, (but they did eat dairy). So to me that's proof that you don't need meat to survive. By the way, I've taken lots of college classes and have a Bachelor's and a Master's degree. If you read the subject of this post that more intelligent kids become vegetarian, it shows that they are probably the ones who will end up taking more college classes and stay vegetarian. Your professor's opinion is just one of many opinions.

Atul

Serly 12-17-2006 @ 3:13AM

I find it real backwards for these researchers to be using an IQ test, especially one that isn't so recent. Hasn't enough research been done on IQ tests to show that they don't properly measure intelligence levels. IQ tests mostly show intelligence of math and grammar skills when there is so much more that one can know.
When I was a kid, my teachers told my folks that I was probably retarded as I got low test scores consistently and had a rather low IQ score. Now, blanky-blank years later and I am a successful (happy) adult, post grad. student, living in the States, and a happy vegetarian.
I don't take much from these hoons and their crap IQ test.

Becky 12-17-2006 @ 2:48PM

I am not saying YOUR survival depends on eating animals; I’m speaking on mankind as a whole. Yes, you don’t have to eat meat to survive, duh, it’s been done. All I am saying is mankind as a whole will not survive without eating meat. Just because your family survived for hundreds of years without eating meat, doesn’t mean my Spanish and Native American ancestors would have. Some cultures were able to adapt and survive without eating meat; others needed it in order to survive. The Native Americans depended on the buffalo for survival and when it was killed for sport rather than food and supplies, Native Americans started dying out. Hmm, I wonder why? They depended on the buffalo for practically everything, more than just food. Now were they just supposed to eat plants from then on, build homes, and create clothing out of it? If the whole race had died out, then the long chain of mixed cultures and families such as mine would not be around. There would have been a drastic difference in the number of humans today, perhaps maybe only just the people form India would have survived because they adapted to only animal byproducts? Aren’t you being a bit selfish in thinking that just because your ancestors survived without meat then everyone’s family could’ve survived that way? That is only your culture in which you live in and have adapted by, just as Asians eat dogs and dolphins and Americans eat cows and chickens. It’s a way of life that has helped people adapt and survive and if EVERYONE only ate plants and animal byproducts then the human race will lack survival AS A WHOLE. By the way, why is it okay to only eat animal byproducts? Is it because they don’t suffer? Well, if you take a look at some animal rights videos, even that is a form of in compassion in the manner it is done. Every culture has a different way of doing things. I would never think to eat my dog, such as the Asians do, but I would eat a cow, even though you wouldn’t. It’s just how the way of life is. As for the subject of the post, more intelligent kids become vegetarian? Hardly, I had an ex roommate that was dumb as hell and she was a vegetarian. The girl was 20, couldn’t spell or type, and hadn’t even taken any college classes. Most likely, she wasn’t going to. She was the stereotypical “dumb blonde”. Yea, so I beg to differ with this “study”. I am not a vegetarian, but I have taken college classes and I continue to do so until I get my degrees, but does that make me less intelligent than my ex roommate? Am I not smart because I am not a vegetarian? The whole idea is stupid and the next thing you know, yet another study will come out contradicting the first, showing how eating meat will improve this or that and make you smart. Come on, I don’t need a stupid study to insinuate that only vegetarianism makes you smarter. I think my scholastic achievements thus far are enough evidence for me. Just as my professor’s opinion is only one out of many, so is this study.

Serly 12-21-2006 @ 3:15AM

I agree with you, Becky. For some reason, it seems that people find it a great accomplishment to not eat animals or to have a background culture of not eating animals. I find it all worthless. As a vegetarian myself, I get very irritated with other fellow veggies that feel they need to place themselves on a 'holier-than-thou' style pedestal around omnivores. Perfectly intelligent people can be meat-eaters, and right idiots can be veggies, and vice-versa.