Prenatal Malnutrition & Low IQ

IQ, or intelligence quotient, is a measure of a person's ability to learn and understand. IQ testing is used to determine the learning capacity, and individualized needs of both handicapped and gifted students in the educational system. Over the course of an otherwise normal pregnancy, prenatal nutrition can greatly affect a child's IQ potential. It is important that a mother eat a healthy and well balanced diet during pregnancy to protect the fetal brain development of their child.

Scoring

• IQ is measured by dividing an individual's mental age by their chronological age, and multiplying by 100. There are four levels of mental retardation delineated according to IQ score. Those scoring between 50 and 69 on an IQ test fall into the mild or educable category. Those scoring between 35 and 49 are in the moderate or trainable category. Those scoring between 20 and 24 are in the severe category. Those scoring below 20 are in the profound category. An average score falls in a range between 91 and 110.

Evidence of Malnutrition

• Both protein and fat are paramount in the development of the fetal brain. The health of the brain, or the degree to which a brain has been fed is directly linked to the health of the body, or the degree to which the body has been fed. The malnutrition of a fetus is measured by the body weight-to-length ratio. Children who are considered low birth weight consistently show sings of malnutrition.

Short Term Malnutrition

• A study was conducted in the 1975, by Smith et al., which looked at the effects of short term prenatal malnutrition on infant development and adult IQ. A sample of more than 400,000 teenage males were studied, who had all be carried, prenatal, during a war induced famine. This study demonstrated that short term fetal malnutrition did not affect the long term IQ potential of children.

Long Term Malnutrition

• Multiple studies have demonstrated that chronic malnutrition that extends throughout or beyond a pregnancy can have significant negative impacts on a child's IQ. In a test by Rush, Stein, Susser and Brody pregnant women at risk of delivering low-birth weight babies were divided into three groups, and given different levels of nutritional care. Children whose mother had received high protein supplementation during pregnancy scored significantly higher on IQ related tasks when tested at one year of age.