Children with a high IQ are more likely to become vegetarian :: University of Southampton

"Intelligent children may be more likely to be vegetarian as adults, suggests a University of Southampton-led study published online by the British Medical Journal today.

The study led by Dr Catharine Gale of the University's MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre looked to see why people with higher IQs appeared to be less likely to suffer from heart disease.

'We examined the records of 8179 men and women aged 30 years, whose IQ had been tested at the age of ten. Twenty years on, 366 (4.5 per cent) of participants said they were vegetarian. Of these, 9 (2.5 per cent) were vegan and 123 (33.6 per cent) stated they were vegetarian but reported eating fish or chicken,' says Dr Gale.

'Those who were vegetarian by the age of 30 had scored five IQ points above average at the age of ten. This can be partly accounted for by better education and higher occupational social class, but it remained statistically significant after adjusting for these factors.'"