Obese children are slower thinkers - study

Fit For Sport, which conducted the tests, said parents and schools must do more to increase children's activity levels.

Fit For Sport, which conducted the tests, said parents and schools must do more to increase children's activity levels.

Published Mar 14, 2014

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London - Obese children may be performing badly in the classroom because of their weight, research suggests.

Faced with basic cognitive tasks, heavier pupils in a study were slower to answer and were less likely to be correct.

Scientists from four universities, three American and one Japanese, assessed 74 boys and girls aged between seven and nine – half of whom had a high Body Mass Index (BMI). They were shown rows of arrows and asked to identify the direction of the middle one. A second test presented a similar but more taxing problem.

Results published in journal Cerebral Cortex showed the obese children’s reaction times were slower by eight percent on the first task and 1 per cent on the second. They also gave the wrong answer slightly more often.

Data from brain monitors suggested this was because of underdeveloped processing in parts of the brain that govern rational thinking and learning from mistakes.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said the research showed obesity could damage youngsters’ “chances of success in adult life”. - Daily Mail

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