A study of 7,703 children by the Institute of Education and the University of Bristol found that children who ate junk food at the age of three were less likely to achieve the expected levels of improvement between Key Stages 1 and 2. Their diet at later ages was found to have less impact on their progress at school.
The researchers adjusted the data to factor in other issues such as low income or poor housing, which could also hold back their progress at school.
The report, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2008, concluded, 'If educational outcomes in part depend on nutritional intake before the start of school, with whom does responsibility lie? At what stage are interventions most effective? Is money best spent on school dinners or on the provision of health information to new mothers?'
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