Many vegetarian parents believe their children are brighter than omnivorous kids.

But you don't really know until you put it to the test.

And indeed, the IQ of vegetarian children tested about 16 points higher than average,

and their mental age exceeded their chronological age

by about a year. The researchers knew the veg kids were bright, but why were they so much more

superior? There are obviously confounding factors, like maybe more highly educated parents,

are more likely to have vegetarian children, and they pass down both

their brains and their diets.

Even if there is a cause and effect relationship between vegetarianism and IQ, were the

children smarter because they were vegetarians, or did they become vegetarian because they

were so smart?

Researchers in the UK followed 8,000 kids for decades. They measured their IQ at age 10,

then came back 20 years later and asked which of them had become vegetarian during that time.

And indeed, the smarter kids had an increased likelihood of being a vegetarian as an adult.

The researchers even quoted Benjamin Franklin, saying that vegetarian diets result in

greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension. According to the largest and oldest

association of nutrition professionals in the world, strictly plant-based diets are appropriate for

all stages of the life cycle, including childhood, and may indeed provide health benefits.

What about plant-based diets and growth in children? Some studies show that children raised on

restrictive macrobiotic diets suffer from growth stunting, while others show that those raised

plant-based may end up being up to an inch taller. In a systematic review, a meta-analysis of children on vegan diets, heights were lower in

vegans, but only because they included a study in which the vegan kids were significantly younger,

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