High IQ link to being vegetarian

[Truth2Tell]

From: BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6180753.stm

Intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life, a study says.

A Southampton University team found those who were vegetarian by 30 had recorded five IQ points more on average at the age of 10.

Researchers said it could explain why people with higher IQ were healthier as a vegetarian diet was linked to lower heart disease and obesity rates.

The study of 8,179 was reported in the British Medical Journal.

Twenty years after the IQ tests were carried out in 1970, 366 of the participants said they were vegetarian - although more than 100 reported eating either fish or chicken.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6180753.stm">More...

[flvegan]

1. Oh, baby.

:popcorn:

[Truth2Tell]

12. I was actually

going to post a popcorn smiley in the OP. Because of course just posting this is considered sanctimonious. In fact, just the word vegetable is considered sanctimonious if used on DU.

[Swamp Rat]

2. The smartest people eat fish.

:9

[malaise]

5. We only eat seafood and poultry

Fresh fish and local chicken without hormones.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. The superlatively smart people ask where the fish originated.

[AngryAmish]

3. Dr. Popper just fucking gives up, decides to start drinking early today...

[ZombieHorde]

4. Recommended. Makes sense. People with High IQs often try to eschew the horrors of the society they

live in. Liberals generally have higher IQs than conservatives. Atheists generally have higher IQs than theists. Now we learn vegetarians generally have higher IQs.

[undeterred]

6. So are those of us who became vegetarians in our 50s

a little slower than those who did in their forties? And what about vegans? And those of us who buy buttons at Walmart? And live in a state that dumped the smartest man in the Senate?

[Boudica the Lyoness]

7. I'm a vegetarian

I have been for 37 years. I really feel good about it. I don't eat fish. I don't eat anything that was once a living, breathing creature with eyeballs and all that. Eggs are fair game though. I have my own chickens.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hannah Bell]

9. lol. higher-income people are more likely to become vegetarians.

& income correlates with iq.

[HopeHoops]

25. Funny, since a vegetarian diet is far cheaper than a meat-based diet.

[Hannah Bell]

26. funny that your comment is true only for a subset of vegetarian diets

& irrelevant to the point: in the us, vegetarians are more likely to be higher-income.

vegetarian diets don't raise one's iq.

[HopeHoops]

27. Nor does the article claim that - it simply shows a correlation between high IQ and BECOMING veg.

By extension then, are you saying high IQ is linked to higher income?

[Hannah Bell]

32. are you saying "smart" people become veg? iq = the bunk.

[HopeHoops]

33. I'm not. The article is.

[Hannah Bell]

34. and you apparently agree.

[HopeHoops]

36. I made no such assertion. Go back to post #25 - all I said is that it is a cheaper diet.

The assertion you made was that income correlates with IQ (post #9). I fail to see that connection, but either way it isn't relevant to the premise of the article. And I am not convinced that diet has any measurable influence on IQ - a correlation does not imply a causal relationship.

[Recursion]

10. Is there a link between high IQ and sanctimony?

Just curious...

[whistler162]

11. Similar studies show Liberalism a mental illness...

I believe both the same amount.

Then there is the one name argument against the thesis...

But I don't want to invoke a psuedo-Godwin's law.

[sweetapogee]

13. my son

is a member of MENSA. We know a lot of high IQ folks. Every summer for the past 10 years we have attended a picnic of members in our area of that organization. We always see lots of burgers, dogs and ribs on the Q.

[Hydra]

14. So my love of steak, chicken, fish and lamb means I'm less of a smartass

Than I could have been? Damn- I've heard that simply isn't possible!

(BTW, our other genetic line that didn't eat the raw brains didn't evolve very far)

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. wow.

[Liquorice]

17. I've been a vegetarian since I was a teenager. I'm now a vegan. I've

met a lot of people of low intelligence in my life, but I have never met an unintelligent vegetarian/vegan. I don't think people of lower intelligence have the ability to analyze the concept of becoming a veg, much less go against American culture in order to become one. While vegetarians are not stupid, I have met some kind of crazy ones. :-)

[Stevenmarc]

18. It takes a few extra IQ points to convince yourself Tofurky is delicious

[hobbit709]

30. +1000

[Taitertots]

19. 28% of the vegetarian group admitted to eating meat and there was no decline in their scores.

Vegetarianism isn't making people smarter. This is a clear example of correlation without causality.

Do smart people eat more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Are you going to start/stop eating them based on the result?

[w4rma]

21. Noone is asserting that causation. In fact, I would say that smart people tend to be vegitarians.

Rather than vegetarianism making people smart. Like I posted, below, if you are smart you don't trust the meat sold in America, anymore.

[Liquorice]

22. It doesn't make you smarter to be a vegetarian. You're just more likely to become

a vegetarian if your IQ is higher.

[w4rma]

20. Because if you are smart you don't trust the meat sold here. (nt)

[XemaSab]

23. Exactly

:toast:

[roody]

24. vegetarian checking in

[Deep13]

28. People with atypical habits usually are more intelligent than average. nt

[Vickers]

29. I just ate a pound of bacon and keyed my own car.

Hope this helps.

[BolivarianHero]

31. Hmmm...

Very left-wing and have an IQ of 143, and I love my meat. Sorry folks.

[TexasObserver]

35. Anyone with an IQ over 100 should immediately see the flaw here.

Unless they are measuring the vegetarians against their own siblings, it doesn't mean anything. If they consistently get higher scores than their siblings, it may mean something. Otherwise, it's just a correlation that doesn't mean what some vegetarians may fantasize it means.

In all likelihood, vegetarians come from families that have higher IQs, better nuitrition, and better economic conditions than do the general public. It is merely evidence that families which produce vegetarians tend to be families whose IQ is higher than the norm. The reasons likely have nothing to do with the vegetarian eating and everything to do with the families which are most likely to produce vegetarians - better educated, better economics, and better gene pool to begin with.