Children who are overweight or obese could have lower intelligence and be more prone to depression, according to a recent study.
The peer-reviewed study, published in JAMA Pediatrics on June 3, analyzed links between weight among children aged 9-11 years old and changes in their mental cognition and psychopathology. Initial data was collected between June 2016 and October 2018, with researchers following the children for a period of two years. For weight analysis, researchers collected body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. In total, data from 5,269 children were analyzed.
Children who scored one point lower in picture vocabulary were found to have 1.6 percent more annual BMI gain compared to those who registered a median score.
“Lower cognitive performance and greater psychopathology at baseline were associated with increased weight gain as children entered adolescence,” the study said.
Higher initial or baseline BMI was associated with more “depressed symptoms and depression problems.” Children classified as overweight or obese at the time of initial data collection were observed to have gained “more problems annually than those with normal weight.”
The cause of the link between obesity and mental cognition was not made clear in the study.
Study findings highlight the importance of mental and cognitive health to weight development among children, the researchers wrote. They suggested that clinicians monitor overweight or obese children for higher depression problems.
The study, conducted by researchers from Washington University, Missouri, received funding from multiple sources, including the university’s McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
The funders had no role in the conduct of the study, the paper said. Two researchers reported conflicts of interest. One individual received grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse while conducting the study. Another person received grants from the NIH.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), many factors contribute to childhood obesity. This includes metabolism, eating, and physical activity behaviors, short sleep duration, negative childhood events, and community design and safety.
While genetic factors of obesity cannot be changed, people and places play an important role in ensuring that children have a healthy weight, the agency noted.
“Changes in the environments where young people spend their time—like homes, schools, and community settings—can make it easier for youths to access nutritious foods and be physically active,” it said.
“Schools can adopt policies and practices that help young people eat more fruits and vegetables, eat fewer foods and beverages that are high in added sugars or solid fats, and increase daily minutes of physical activity.”
CDC estimates that approximately one in five American children and adolescents are obese. Between 2017 and March 2020, approximately 14.7 million youths aged 2-19 years old were classified as having obesity.
Rates of obesity were highest among Hispanic children at 26.2 percent, followed by non-Hispanic Black children at 24.8 percent, non-Hispanic whites at 16.6 percent, and non-Hispanic Asians at nine percent.
The prevalence of obesity was found to increase as family incomes declined. Among families with incomes at 130 percent or less of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), 25.8 percent of children were obese. Among families with incomes over 350 percent of FPL, the obesity rate dropped to 11.5 percent.
Miseducation Fueling Obesity in Children
Other studies have also found links between obesity among children and IQ. In a 2018 study from Brown University, researchers discovered that children on the threshold of obesity or are overweight during the initial two years of their life had lower perceptual reasoning and working memory scores at five and eight years of age compared to leaner individuals.
It also indicated that IQ scores could be lower for children who weigh more. Researchers suggested that certain biological mechanisms during early life obesity could affect neurodevelopment.
For instance, “systematic inflammation may affect multiple brain regions relevant to cognitive abilities and was shown to adversely affect spatial learning and memory in rodents,” according to a press release from the university.
“And the dysregulation of hormones that act on brain regions including the hypothalamus, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus may adversely affect cognition.”
In an interview with The Epoch Times last year, Dr. Nadia Ali, who is certified in internal and integrative medicine, said that children are being left vulnerable to obesity through food miseducation.
Children are being targeted by processed food marketers who portray their food items as being more delicious.
“If they develop bad habits, it’s very hard to change those when their culture reinforces them. These children are the victims of the situation,” she said. “We have to understand the root cause of obesity so we can treat, reverse, and prevent it.”
A 2023 World Obesity Federation report warned that childhood obesity rates could double by 2035 from 2020 levels. Around 208 million boys and 175 million girls are projected to be obese by 2035. Lower-income nations in Asia and Africa are expected to be hardest hit by this obesity epidemic.
Louise Baur, the federation’s president, called the data a “clear warning” and called on policymakers to act now. “It is particularly worrying to see obesity rates rising fastest among children and adolescents,” she said.