A lack of exercise and an unbalanced diet during childhood growth and development have been linked to certain cognitive and linguistic anomalies, as well as to problems in the development of social and affective relationships. This is the conclusion of a study in which the Community Nutrition Research Group (GRENC), located in the Barcelona Science Park, took part. The research is based on the results of a survey carried out in primary healthcare facilities by a group of paediatricians from around Spain, who collected information from 430 children aged between 4 and 14.

It was already known that factors such as diet and physical activity can affect the physical and psychological growth and development of children, but no relationship between these habits and certain cognitive skills as well as affective and behavioural disorders had previously been demonstrated. The research reveals that children with a higher body mass index achieve lower scores and present certain anomalies in the psychological tests used to assess motor control, linguistic and cognitive development, and social and affective relationships. In other words, children who have problems of being overweight or obese (16% of the total) have delayed nervous and muscular development –which are those functions that facilitate mobility and coordination of the limbs– and weaknesses in social skills and personal autonomy, as well as behavioural and personality disorders.

The study also shows children who do not eat breakfast (8%) have a decreased physical output and it is thought that this may also affect their motor control and socialisation. Of the children included in the study, 20% regularly eat industrially produced food for breakfast. The study also reveals that 88.5% of the children in the survey have a very low index of physical activity and those that do least physical exercise are also those who eat most sweets and junk food.

The research is published in the book “Psicología y Nutrición,” (Psychology and Nutrition) which has been jointly coordinated by: the president of the Sociedad Española de Nutrición Comunitaria (Spanish Society of Community Nutrition) Javier Aranceta Bartrina; the director of GRENC, Lluís Serra; and the psychology lecturer at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Francisco Rodríguez. The book is backed by Kellogg’s and it was presented recently at the Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (AESAN; Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition).