Vegetarians are smarter than meat eaters

[Skyhunter]

According to recent study, vegetarians average 5 IQ points higher than meat chompers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6180753.stm

A Southampton University team found those who were vegetarian by 30 had recorded five IQ points more on average at the age of 10.

But I already knew that.

 

[Anttech]

bah :)

So what happened to you then Sky?

 

[brewnog]

No great surprise, but it must be recognised that the study doesn't actually assess the effects of eating meat; it's not shown to be a cause and effect relationship.

 

[SpaceTiger]

According to recent study, vegetarians average 5 IQ points higher than meat chompers.

That shouldn't be very surprising. It's much easier to be vegetarian in open-minded and intellectual environments, where smart people often end up. I'd like to see this done with more control for environment.

 

[J77]

Veggies are paler <--- that's a Friday fact!

 

[physics girl phd]

Special case of cause-effect for the opposite:
Since starting to eat more meat again... I feel I've been getting smarter.
I'm eating more meat because I'm now sharing my meals with a smart man... :!) and the dialogue during such meals is making me smarter.

 

[EmilK]

10 out of 9 are fooled by statistics

 

[Evo]

First the title of the article is misleading, It states "High IQ link to being vegetarian", but then listed these scores which are low average IQ "Men who were vegetarian had an IQ score of 106, compared with 101 for non-vegetarians; while female vegetarians averaged 104, compared with 99 for non-vegetarians."

Also, eating a vegetarian diet doesn't raise your IQ, the article states that more people that tested with average IQ's (sorry 104-106 is NOT a high IQ) chose to be vegetarian, and some that claimed to be vegetartian also included chicken and fish in their diets!

IQ scores of 90-110 are AVERAGE.

I've always been a vegetable lover, but sometimes meat is the only thing that will hit the spot.

 

[arildno]

Of course it is true. We meat-eaters are put together with that segment of the population that frequents MacDonald's..

 

[Evo]

Of course it is true. We meat-eaters are put together with that segment of the population that frequents MacDonald's..

I don't think that's meat...

 

[arildno]

But THEY don't know that, and identify themselves as meat-eaters all the same, lowering our average wrt. to the rabbits.

 

[Evo]

But THEY don't know that, and identify themselves as meat-eaters all the same, lowering our average wrt. to the rabbits.

 

[Danger]

This can't be right. I'm going to have to sit me down with a rack of ribs and think on it a mite.

 

[turbo]

No venison for me this year - the deer managed to elude me this season. Maybe they're smarter than me because they are vegetarians?

 

[DaveC426913]

The vegetarians scored higher on the IQ tests because they're herd animals. Didn't the experimenter notice that there were five of them all gathered around the same test paper??

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

The study does not imply that if you become a vegetarian before you are 30, it will improve your IQ score when you were 10. What it does imply (whether it's true is another question) is that if you are hiring people and want an extra 5 IQ points without actually running an IQ test, you should choose people who were vegetarian before they were 30. That is, assuming that the advantage at 10 hasn't dissipated.

 

[jim mcnamara]

DaveC is right - it's essentially a meaningless study (if you want to call it that).

 

[Mk]

I wonder what the margin of error was for this study anyway?

We all know there's more vegetarians in California than hicktown or Africa. It's demographics.

 

[Francis M]

First the title of the article is misleading, It states "High IQ link to being vegetarian", but then listed these scores which are low average IQ "Men who were vegetarian had an IQ score of 106, compared with 101 for non-vegetarians; while female vegetarians averaged 104, compared with 99 for non-vegetarians."

Also, eating a vegetarian diet doesn't raise your IQ, the article states that more people that tested with average IQ's (sorry 104-106 is NOT a high IQ) chose to be vegetarian, and some that claimed to be vegetartian also included chicken and fish in their diets!

IQ scores of 90-110 are AVERAGE.

I've always been a vegetable lover, but sometimes meat is the only thing that will hit the spot.

B]and some that claimed to be vegetartian also included chicken and fish in their diets![/B] Are these the smart, average or the below average vegetarians that included fish and chicken in their diet... of course the next question is, how much did these folks skew the data :

 

[Yonoz]

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/bmj.39030.675069.55v1"

 

[tehno]

I love raw meat.Yummy!
Does that mean I'm dumb?

Well,one way or another,I've heard that meat-eaters are more aggresive than vegeterians.
And I don't think for myself I'm too aggressive person .

 

[Chi Meson]

What a below-average interlligence survey. Obviously carried out by meat-eaters!

[I'm attempting the irony trifecta!]

 

[turbo]

You win Chi [handing Chi a plate of my hickory-smoked BBQ pork]

 

[Moonbear]

I wonder what the margin of error was for this study anyway?

Me too. I'd like to see error bars! There's a much smaller population of vegetarians, and tend to glom together, while the meat eaters are much more diverse, so I'd expect a rather large error range for the meat eaters that would entirely bracket the vegetarian range. Otherwise, as Evo pointed out, all those numbers show is that on average, people are average.

 

[Evo]

Here is a more in depth article.

"This study left many unanswered questions such as: Did the vegetarian children grow up in a household with a vegetarian parent? Were meatless meals regularly served in the household? Were the children eating a primarily vegetarian diet at the age of 10?" said Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

"In addition, we don't know the beliefs or attitudes of the parents of the children, nor do we know if there was a particular event that led these children to becoming vegetarian in their teens or adulthood," Sandon said.

As the study showed, more women than men chose a vegetarian diet, Sandon noted. "Other research shows that women in general will focus more on their health than men. So, if they believe that a vegetarian diet will have health benefits, they are more likely to follow it," she said.

Given these factors, "we cannot draw any solid conclusions from this research," Sandon added."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20061215/hl_hsn/kidswithhighiqsgrowuptobevegetarians

 

[moose]

It takes some serious mental power to convince yourself to go against your instinct and not eat meat. That is my explanation :)

 

[Rach3]

Of course vegetables are smarter than meat-eaters!

 

[MeJennifer]

Of course vegetables are smarter than meat-eaters!

They are crunchier too.

 

[Skyhunter]

bah :)

So what happened to you then Sky?

I am not a vegetarian.

I am vegan.

 

[Skyhunter]

No great surprise, but it must be recognised that the study doesn't actually assess the effects of eating meat; it's not shown to be a cause and effect relationship.

Actually it was the average IQ a the age of 10. But I agree it is a fairly meaningless study. I just started the thread to see what the reactions here would be.