French Scientists Link Higher BMI with Lower IQ

Xemu writes "French scientists have linked obesity to lower IQ reports the Telegraph. In a new five-year study of more than 2,200 adults, people with a low body mass index (BMI) could recall 30% more words in a vocabulary test than those who were obese. The fatter subjects also showed a higher rate of cognitive decline when they were retested five years later. In the United States, 30% of the population is obese according to OECD. That's the highest rate of obesity anywhere. Do these high obesity rates affect the average IQ of the population?" (Of course, this sidesteps discussion of whether IQ tests measure anything significant at all.)

BMI is not accurate

[Harmonious Botch (921977)]

The Body Mass Index is not accurate. It is basically mass vs height, and makes no distinction between fat and muscle, both of which increase mass measurements.

During the rainy season, I don't exersize, so I lose muscle mass and get skinny, and I look - pardon me for saying it - like a geek. And my BMI is normal ( and allegedly healthy ). But during the other ten months, I am more muscular ( and probably a lot healthier ) and yet I am technically obese, according to the BMI.

Do I feel smarter? Heck, I'm a slashdotter - I think I'm smart all the time.

Re:BMI is not accurate

[gEvil (beta) (945888)]

...but for some reason, I'm unusually dense.

Yes, we've noticed. : p

(sorry, couldn't let that one slip by)

BMI = Worthless

[Smidge204 (605297)]

(Of course, this sidesteps discussion of whether IQ tests measure anything significant at all.)

This also seems to sidestep discussion of whether BMI measures anything significant at all.
=Smidge=

Re:BMI = Worthless

[Keebler71 (520908)]

(Of course, this sidesteps discussion of whether IQ tests measure anything significant at all.)

Concur but I have a different take on this wording. Of course IQ tests measure something significant. The question may be whether or not "IQ tests are a signigicant measure of anything at all". My wife is an elementry teacher and we recently discussed how children are placed into gifted classes. She said that they used to do IQ testing but that has fallen out of vogue due to their being a rather politically incorrect measure (not to mention all the other types of "intelligence" (emotional, creative, et crappra)). This is sad. IQ tests are a near-perfect indicator of intelligence. That is they have a very low incidence of Type I (false positive) error. The cultural biases come into play and lead to false negatives (Type II errors). It seems the logical approach would be to use a combination of tests or qualitative assessments rather than ditching a good but non-perfect test.

Re:BMI = Worthless

[griffjon (14945)]

All of this conveniently ignores that correlation is not causation. maybe being stupid correlates with not taking care of yourself? Maybe they're both caused by a third variable (perhaps watching too much TV?)

IQ Tests

[stevemm81 (203868)]

(Of course, this sidesteps discussion of whether IQ tests measure anything significant at all.)

This wasn't a general purpose IQ test. It was a specific test of people's ability to recall words. They're talking about memory in particular, not some fuzzy idea of general intelligence.

Re:IQ Tests

[nizo (81281)]

I bet the test was unfair; they should have asked the people who did poorly if they could, say, remember the items from a McDonald's menu. Now who has a better memory skinny boy!

This story is riddled with nonsense

[RsG (809189)]

Not the study, but rather the first linked article.

First, they make the classic error of attributing causation when the study found correlation. If that was in the original study, then I'd question the researcher's methodology, but I suspect the blame lies with whoever wrote the article. Testing people's intelligence and comparing their weight does not show a causitive link between wieght and intellect. It could just as easily show that poor judgement translates into bad eating habits and low IQ.

Second, the criticism they reported came from a politician who tried to use anecdotal evidence to debunk the link. That's right, she said she knew witless skinny people and clever fat people, so the study must therefor be wrong. Someone ought to tell her that the plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".

Link with poverty

[Dr. Spork (142693)]

In most industrialized countries and especially in the US, obesity is strongly correlated with low income. Since there is also a strong link between low income and low IQ scores, there may be no causal relationship at all between obesity and a lowered IQ.

What Words?

[malvidin (951569)]

How much do you want to bet that the words weren't types of food?

Fat and Stupid?

[Ranger (1783)]

The French are calling us fat, lazy, and now stupid. Great, well at least we aren't a bunch cheese eating surrender monkeys. Time to eat some more pork rinds and watch American Idol. I hope I don't have to get out of my chair to find my remote. Found it. It was under a fold of fat. I also found my car keys.

one thing to think about...

[AxemRed (755470)]

There are probably other factors involved here. For example, poverty has also been linked to obesity (in America.) And less intelligence can also be linked to poverty.

So does obesity somehow lead to mental decline? Or are people who are less intelligent more likely to let their physical health deteriorate?
Or maybe less intelligence leads to poverty which leads to obesity. Then again, it could be the other way around...

Correlation does not equal causation. If I had to place a bet, I would say that the link between obesity and intelligence isn't biological like the article is inferring. There may be some kind of link there, but I bet that other factors are more influential.

Re:one thing to think about...

[malsdavis (542216)]

"Correlation does not equal causation. [...] There may be some kind of link there, but I bet that other factors are more influential." yada yada yada, I think I know everything!

I can't stand posts like this. You obviously have not read the academic report and therefor your conclusion about its fallacy are completely worthless. I have not read the actual report either but to hear you make an instant "it's probably due to this other factor" summary about something you have obviously not even read is infuriating!

The primary task of academic studies is to identify the true reason for an observed correlation. Every researcher knows that "Correlation does not equal causation" and the fact that the report has been published in a respected journal means for definate that the researchers have taken steps to ensure other obvious factors - like the ones you mention - are accounted for.

Perhaps...

[OpenSourced (323149)]

people with a low body mass index (BMI) could recall 30% more words in a vocabulary test than those who were obese

Then perhaps people get fat because they can't remember they have already eaten.

Memory != IQ

[mkiwi (585287)]

It is common in society to associate people with good memories as people with high IQ's.

This is simply not true. If you actually take an IQ test, you will see that it does not test your memory as had been done in the study, but rather your cognitive thinking skills. In fact, there are many people who can memorize history or math equations or whatever, but they come up far short when they have to apply the concepts they memorized.

Again, memorization is not critical thinking, and memorization != IQ.

Re:Timothy has low IQ?

[malsdavis (542216)]

Indeed, Timothy does oversimplify the matter.

It is slightly beside the point though because the study noticed a drop in 'cognitive function' in obese people, not IQ. Cognitive function most certainly is significant, albeit specifically to the function measured (which in this case was primarily arthmimetic and vocabulary). It was only the reporting newspaper which introduced IQ, probably for the benefit of dumber/fatter readers.

Re:Timothy has low IQ?

[Golias (176380)]

There are decades of data to prove the corellation between IQ and actual, demonstrated intelligence and success in the real world. Maybe you would like to clarify yourself, Timothy?

The disproportionately high representation in groups like MENSA of lonely singles who earn below average salaries in unsatisfying jobs seems to counter your "decades of data" (which I have never seen.)

Or are you defining "demonstrated intelligence" as the ability to recite Star Trek dialog by rote and "success in the real world" as having your very own crafts store at the local Renaissance Festival?

Of course IQ measures something...

[Morosoph (693565)]

Specifically, IQ measures how slim you are!

Re:IQ means nothing...

[kfg (145172)]

Yes I have a weight problem but I don't blame it on IQ, I blame it on american diet and adverting on TV and in magazines.

Which you aren't smart enough to ignore.

KFG

Re:IQ means nothing...

[NosTROLLdamus (979044)]

My IQ is only 100 but I am a lot smarter than most people for my 'low' IQ.

Sorry, fatty, but everybody thinks they're smarter than everyone else. Everbody. It's okay though, you can take solace in the fact that everyone has the same lame excuses for their short comings.

Re:IQ means nothing...

[Columcille (88542)]

But some of those people are actually right. Take me for example - I'm smarter than pretty much anyone else out there. I even figured that fact out on my own! The fact that everyone else disagrees with my conclusion just proves how ignorant they all really are.

IQ means nothing, MENSA is pointless and so on

[BeeBeard (999187)]

You're right, IQ is incredibly meaningless. A well-socialized individual with a good work ethic, who is willing to parlay whatever gray matter they have into the task at hand will always prove successful at life. Many of the under-20 uber-nerds who cling to their IQ scores as proof positive of their superiority over others haven't figured this out yet, and to their credit, it's something that's only realized with time: Intelligence is both nature and nurture--the daughter of a doctor and lawyer becomes a bum if she has no direction or commitment. The daughter of a field hand and a grocer becomes the world's most well-respected biologist if she has direction and commitment.

-------------

Funny story: The guy downstairs had his "MENSA Bulletin" delivered to my mailbox by mistake (probably due to the innerwebs and lack of blue mailboxes!), so of course I kept it. I've been leaving it prominently near the john for some high brow bathroom reading. And man oh man, have I been disappointed. The articles are poorly conceived and written, the letters from readers absolutely dumb. The pictures of "smart people" show them not even badly dressed, but incapably dressed--as in , for example, they clearly missed belt loops when they were putting on their belts (Is looking accidentally slovenly for nationally distributed photographs the mark of a genuinely intelligent person who likes themselves? I submit that it is not.)

So my friends have been coming over, and when they inevitably have to use the restroom, they see the magazine and go "You're in MENSA?" all accusingly. And of course I pretend to be, and mutter something about how "we're trying to reform the government under our own intelligent rule" (did you see that episode of The Simpsons too?)

And as I can feel their opinion of me lessening, lessening...I finally let on that, no, of course I'm not a part of fucking MENSA. And every time, they respond with something like "Oh I was gonna say, because those people are idiots!" And then we page through the magazine together, mocking it the entire time. And we live happily ever after. The end.

Find a shady place to sit

[BeeBeard (999187)]

For starters, let me disabuse you of the notion that I spend my evenings looking through the dirt-stained glass of an abandoned feed factory, breath frosting up the glass, spying on the secret meetings of the local MENSA chapter and hoping against hope that this week--oh god let it be this week--will be my chance to finally get admitted.

I actually have received invitations to attend MENSA meetings in the past, but have always declined. (Is that how recruitment is done? God only knows.) I politely say that I have a "differing philosophy". Namely, I believe that intelligence and success should be measured in terms of real, humanistic achievement in the real world, and not by corny metrics that determine whether or not a person should be admitted to a shamelessly self-promotional smarty-pants club. But of course I don't say all that. Politely declining the invitation is really enough.

I know that must just fry you--that there are people out there in the world who are at least reasonably smart and reasonably socialized, and who look at their introverted and prideful intelligent brothers with pity. It may seem at odds with what I read as teenage angst, but I assure you we exist.

And speaking of teenage angst, you might want to stop using the lexicon of a teenager. "Jocks"..."frat guys"...it's the language of someone who still thinks of people in terms of symbolic high school lunch tables (i.e. somebody not all that smart after all). If you're just some silly immature kid (I understand that about half of Slashdot readers fit that description)--then you get a free pass, because that's all you've seen so far in terms of how people organize themselves. But if not, then, well, there's that whole pity thing again. To phrase this in terms you've voluntarily adopted, I am no jock, or frat-guy, or anything else. I sit at everyone's lunch table, and I don't use their interests as some kind of bogus reason to judge and dismiss them.

So I guess to be more crass about things, that, my boy, is why I haven't joined your fruity little club.

Good luck--may your false pride and wanton disdain for others take you to great new heights.

Re:frist psot

[Pflipp (130638)]

wow, you must be fat!!

Re:Jokes!

[sTalking_Goat (670565)]

Yeah, what no one bothers to go into is that the Americans tried pencils, but realized that broken pencil points would float away and get into everything, possibly harming delicate electronics...