Fast food consumption linked to poor test scores

A new study has shown that fast food consumption is directly associated with a decrease in test scores among school children.

The study, conducted by the Ohio State University, suggested there is a strong link between children’s eating fast food and their poor performance on academic tests, although no definitive causal connection is established.

The study revealed that even slight increases in the frequency with which students consumed fast food were linked with poorer academic results.

Students who ate fast food on a daily basis produced test scores “up to about 20 percent lower than those who didn’t eat any fast food,” the study found out.

The study examined around 11,700 children in the United States in 2004. Researchers measured the levels of fast food consumed by children at the age of 10, and then compared them with test results in science, reading and math three years later.

One third of children in America between 2 and 11 years of age and half of those between 12 and 19 eat or drink at a fast food restaurant on a daily basis, a 2008 study found.