Consequences in a bad dining room

Children of 4 and 6 years old who do not eat well, also called 'bad eaters', have a level of care lower than those who eat healthily, according to a study carried out with the collaboration of Abbott and published in 'The Open Nutrition Journal', after analyzing 1,101 children from three to six years of seven schools in Madrid.

Research has also shown that more than half of five- and six-year-olds who do not eat well have the lowest levels of care. A fact that, according to experts, needs psychological intervention.

Effects of malnutrition on cognitive development

"The scientific evidence links malnutrition to a cognitive development deficit. Even in children from developed countries there is a relationship between poor eating habits and poor school performance, "said the study coordinator and head of the Gastroenterology and Child Nutrition Unit of the Hospital Miguel Servet de Zaragoza, Luis Ros.


Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if there were differences between children 'poor eaters' and those who ate healthily in terms of their attention, the levels of irritability of families and the nutritional intake of children.

For this, the children were classified into two groups: those considered 'poor eaters' and those who ate in a healthy way. The former were defined as those who ingested less than 65 percent of the recommended daily amounts of between 4 and 6 food groups. The groups were meats (which includes eggs and fish), vegetables, fruits, dairy, carbohydrates and legumes.

In this sense, one of the main conclusions has been that there are no significant differences in the level of attention of the two groups of children, the 'poor eaters' and those who eat healthily, except in the older groups, which represents 70 percent of the sample (788 children).


Food affects the levels of attention in children

In fact, between 4 and 6 years of age there is a tendency for a greater number of children who do not eat well to have scored lower in the established levels of care. This trend has been increased by more than 50 percent in the group of children 'poor eaters' between 5 and 6 years.

Children who scored lower at these levels of care had ingested significantly lower amounts of foods from the dairy group and from the fish, meat, and egg group than children who scored higher at the levels of care.

"The lowest score in the levels of care in the oldest group could be due to the cumulative effect of bad eating habits and the nutritional deficits derived from them, which should be investigated in depth ", Ros stressed.


Differences in eating habits

The study also offers information on the differences between the eating habits of children 'poor eaters' and those of children who eat healthy. The first are, according to experts, fussy about food, do not enjoy trying new foods, and are likely to reject them and decide they do not like them without even trying them; they prefer to drink to eat; and they feel full quickly.

In this sense, specialists have warned that bad eating habits can have consequences in both the short and long term. Specifically, in the short term nutritional deficiencies may occur, such as low levels of energy and proteins or micronutrients; intake of fruits, vegetables and meats lower than recommended; or less vitamins and minerals than recommended.

You can also lower growth, given that some research shows that children 'poor eaters' have a shorter height and lower body weight.

Also, a "possible" long-term consequence of the "bad eating" behavior is a lower cognitive performance such as, for example, difficulties in performing tests that require attention, memory difficulties, visual perception, verbal comprehension and other important cognitive processes.

Finally, the study has shown that there is a narrow relationship between children's poor eating habits and family stress at the time of meals. And, a high level of irritability in parents can have long-term negative consequences on the behavior of children because they could worsen their eating habits in the future.

Video: 1950s U.S. NAVY FILM "EASY OUT?" CONSEQUENCES OF BAD CONDUCT DISCHARGE 58154


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