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Children's literacy linked to healthy eating

A new study shows that diet has a significant impact on reading skills acquired during early school years.

The research published in the European Journal of Nutrition, followed 161 children in Finland aged between six and eight. The quality of their diet was analysed using food diaries and evaluated according to Finnish nutritional recommendations.

The closer a child’s eating habits were to the Baltic Sea Diet - high in fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, fish and low fat milk, and low in sugar, saturated fats and red meat – the healthier it was considered.

The study shows that children with higher quality diets perform better in standardised tests measuring reading, fluency and comprehension, when compared to children whose diets are low in nutritional value.

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