Healthy diet linked to girls' learning
The study found girls with lower birth weight experienced a greater inability to learn and weaker overall competence than girls of normal birth weight. Image: monkeybusinessimages/iStockphoto Lower birth weight and poor childhood diet can lead to poor learning and behaviour in children, particularly girls, according to new research.The study, published in Research in Developmental Disabilities by researchers from Monash University, the National Defence Medical Centre, Taiwan and the National Health Research Institute, Taiwan, found girls with lower birth weight experienced a greater inability to learn and weaker overall competence than girls of normal birth weight.The study linked the national birth registry to Taiwan’s Nutrition and Health Survey to examine possible relationships between lower birth weight, childhood diet and learning outcomes in Taiwanese children between six and 13 years old.Co-author Emeritus Professor Mark Wahlqvist from Monash University’s Asia Pacific Health and Nutrition Centre at the Monash Asia Institute, said the findings suggested girls’...