'Kids taking healthy diet perform better in school'

Washington, Mar 23 (UNI) Children taking a healthy diet perform better in school than their counterparts with unhealthy diet , a study shows.

According to research published in the journal of School Health, kids taking diet consisting fruits , vegeatables, grains, dietary fiber, protein, calcium and moderate fat have better performance in school as compared to those taking unhealthy diet such as saturated fat and salt, the Science Daily reported.

''We demonstrated that above and beyond socioeconomic factors, diet quality is important to academic performance,'' the authors said.

The reseachers at University of Alberta, Canada , surveyed around 5000 fifth grade students and their parents as part of the Children's Lifestyle and School-Performance Study.

Information regarding dietary intake, height, and weight were recorded and the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) was used to summarise overall diet quality. A standardised literacy assessment was administered to the children.

It was found that students with an increased fruit and vegetable intake and less caloric intake from fat were significantly less likely to fail the literacy assessment. Relative to students in the group with the lowest DQI-I scores marking less healthy diet , students in the group with the best scores were 41 per cent less likely to fail the literacy assessment.

''These findings support the broader implementation and investment in effective school nutrition programmes that have the potential to improve student's diet quality, academic performance, and, over the long term, their health,'' lead researcher Paul J Veugelers and his team concluded.

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