Bad diet 'cause of learning difficulties' for 200,000 pupils

Published on Saturday 4 February 2006 01:02

UP TO 200,000 Scottish school pupils could have learning difficulties because of the country's love of junk food, researchers have claimed.

Eating fatty fry-ups, burgers and chips dramatically increases the chances of children suffering from learning difficulties, including dyslexia and autism, a conference in Edinburgh was told.

Dr Alex Richardson, a senior researcher at Oxford University, claimed that up to a quarter of the school-age population - which equates to about 200,000 pupils in Scotland - had some kind of learning problem.

She said that was probably caused by the lack of the vital omega-3 fatty acid - which is found in oily fish and dark green vegetables - in their parents' and grandparents' diets and what they serve up to children.

Dr Richardson said: "There's an old folk tale that says fish is good for the brain - it is. Ask any vet, who starts out with the same training as doctors, and their first line of treatment for physical or behavioural difficulty is nutrition."