New Researches Suggests Improved Children’s Cognition After Weekly Serving of Fish!
grilled salmon with asparagus on a white plate
Fish is a great source of protein, helping our body to repair and regenerate itself. It is one of the healthiest foods enrich not only in protein but also in omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin D and other sources of minerals. Including fish in your, everyday diet has proven to provide you several health benefits for adults as well as children, even proven by many kinds of research.
Considering this, US recently carried out a new research to find the association of fish with young children’s cognition capacity. It suggested that children who included fish as one serving at least once a week would benefit from better sleep and higher IQ scores than children who ate fish less often.
The research has been carried out by the University of Pennsylvania who has been working for years in finding the relationship between omega-3s fatty acids, improved intelligence, and better sleep. A solid connection is yet to be formed among the three variables.
The area of study involved a total 541 children between age group 9-11 in China who were asked to take the report of the number of times they consumed fish every week for one week with options ranging from often (once per week) to sometimes (2/3 times a month) to seldom or never.
Not only the children but their parents were also asked to complete a questionnaire about their children’s sleep pattern, sleep duration, and the daytime sleepiness. The results obtained after the investigation resulted to findings that the children who included fish in their diet at least once a week scored 4.8 points higher on IQ exam while those who ate it sometimes scored 3.3 points higher than those who seldom ate fish.
Professor Adrian Rain, co-author of the research stated,
“Lack of sleep is associated with the antisocial behavior; poor cognition is associated with antisocial behavior. We have found that omega-3 supplements reduce antisocial behavior, so it’s not too surprising that fish is behind this.
It adds to the growing body of evidence showing that fish consumption has really positive health benefits and should be something more heavily advertised and promoted,”
Hence, taking accounts to the findings, the team suggests that fish should be introduced as the major food into children’s diet as early as possible (by age 2) further adding that children as young as 10 months too can consume a little portion. The team also advise the whole family to increase their fish consumption together, little by little, even to just once per week serving of fish.
There are several health benefits of fish oil supplements for young children even for toddlers. Toddlers can eat a couple of servings of fresh fish a week which results in the active development of brain and vision of them. These supplements are also known to improve their concentration, coordination, intelligence, memory, eczema, and asthma. Fish oil contains Vitamin E that assists in maintaining required fatty acid levels after absorption and hence provides anti-inflammatory capabilities and resistance to infection.
To add more, Vitamin A contained in fish help in the optimum development of body tissues, repairing and growing, allowing the body to have strong bones, muscles and good immune system as a whole.
