GOTHENBURG , Sweden, Mar 9, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Fifteen-year-old boys who
eat fish at least once a week achieve higher intelligence scores, Sweden
researchers found.
The study of nearly 4,000 teenagers, published in the March issue of Acta
Paediatrica, found eating fish once a week was enough to increase combined,
verbal and visuospatial intelligence scores by an average of 6 percent, while
eating fish more than once a week increased them by just under 11 percent.
Swedish researchers compared the responses of 3,972 males who took part in the
survey with the cognitive scores recorded in their Swedish Military Conscription
records three years later.
"We found a clear link between frequent fish consumption and higher scores when
the teenagers ate fish at least once a week" Kjell Toren of the Sahlgrenska
Academy at the University of Gothenburg said in a statement. "When they ate fish
more than once a week the improvement almost doubled."
The study also found that:
-- 58 percent of the boys who took part in the study ate fish at least once a
week and a further 20 percent ate fish more than once a week.
-- When male teenagers ate fish more than once a week their combined
intelligence scores were on average 12 percent higher than those who ate fish
less than once a week.
-- The verbal intelligence scores for teens who ate fish more than once a week
were on average 9 percent higher than those who ate fish less than once a week.
Those who ate fish once a week scored 4 percent higher.
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