A Southampton University team found that people who were vegetarians by 30 had recorded five IQ points higher on average at the age of 10. Researchers said it could explain why people with a higher IQ were healthier as a vegetarian diet was connected to lower heart disease and obesity rates. The study of 8,179 people was reported in the BritishMedicalJournal.
Twenty years after the IQ tests were carried out in 1970, 366 of the participants said they were vegetarians — although more than 100 reported eating either fish or chicken.
Men who were vegetarians had an IQ score of 106, compared with 101 for non-vegetarians; while female vegetarians averaged 104, compared with 99 for non-vegetarians. There was no difference in the IQ scores, between strict vegetarians and those who said they were vegetarians but reported eating fish or chicken.
Researchers said the findings were partly related to better education and higher class, but it remained statistically significant after adjusting for these factors.
Vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher social class and to have higher academic or vocational qualifications than non-vegetarians. However, these differences were not reflected in their annual income, which was similar to that of non-vegetarians.
Lead researcher Catharine Gale said, “The findings that children with greater intelligence are more likely to report being vegetarians as adults, together with the evidence on the potential benefits of a vegetarian diet on heart health, may help to explain why a higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease in adult life.
But Dr Frankie Phillips of the British Dietetic Association said，“It_ is_ like _the _chicken _and _egg. Do people become vegetarians because they have a very high IQ or is it just that they are clever enough to be more aware of health issues？”
小题1: What’s the result of the research mentioned in the text?
A．Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life.
B．Children with a higher IQ are less likely to have heart disease later in life.
C．Intelligent children tend to belong to higher social class later in life.
D．Children with a healthier heart tend to have a higher IQ later in life.小题2:It was found in the research that________.
A．most of the participants became vegetarians 20 years after the IQ tests were carried out
B．vegetarians who ate fish or chicken were of similar intelligence with strict vegetarians
C．female vegetarians were more likely to have higher annual income than non-vegetarians
D．vegetarians were more likely to have higher annual income than non-vegetarians小题3:What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?
A．Intelligence is linked to not just being a vegetarian but to many factors.
B．The rate of getting heart disease is linked to your lifestyle.
C．The link between a high IQ and being a vegetarian is still uncertain.
D．The link between a healthy heart and diet remains to be proved.小题4:What’ s the best title for the text?
A．Get more IQ points!
B．Be a vegetarian, please!
C．Vegetarian diet cuts heart risk
D．A high IQ is linked to being a vegetarian