And make sure your kids eat well

Many of us have heard it. “The brain is an organ. You have to feed it the right nutrients” African-Americans have a notoriously bad diet, which has led to many health problems including obesity, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.One report said:

“28 percent of African Americans were reported to have a poor-quality diet, compared to 16 percent of whites, and 14 percent of other racial groups. The diet of African Americans is particularly poor for children two to ten years old, for older adults, and for those from a low socioeconomic background. Of all racial groups, African Americans have the most difficulty in eating diets that are low in fat and high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains”

The report continued:

“As a result, many U.S. agencies have created national initiatives to improve the diet quality and the overall health of African Americans”

How would horrible diet and nutrition affect other things? How would it affect African-American children’s brain development? A survey that addresses this topic generally, conducted by UNICEF and the Micronutrient Initiative, states:

“Few outside specialist circles are aware of the scale and severity of vitamin and mineral deficiency, or of what it means for individuals and for nations. It means the impairment of hundreds of millions of growing minds and the lowering of national IQs… And it means the large-scale loss of national energies, intellects, productivity, and growth.”

The report continues:

Until recently iodine deficiency was known as goitre and thought to affect only a minority. Today we know the truth. More than 60 developing countries have iodine deficiency rates that are associated with a 10% to 15% lowering of average intellectual capacity.

Muslim countries like Pakistan, have taken action on this matter:

In the last few years, Pakistan has shown that it is possible for a large low-income country to move rapidly towards universal salt iodization

Salt iodization is a way of slipping a needed brain nutrient into the population to “trick” them into getting this much needed nutrient.The Salt Institute’s website states: 

There are numerous reports in the literature that demonstrate effectiveness of iodized salt in controlling endemic goiter. Iodization of salt is known to be a safe, efficient, and preferred prophylactic method for endemic goiter in the U.S. (Ref. 1). In the early 1900’s, goiter was prevalent in those states bordering the Great Lakes and in the northwestern region of the United States. Voluntary fortification of salt with iodine was introduced in 1924 and resulted in a virtual elimination of endemic goiter in the U.S 

All of this means that among all of the other factors that lead to African-Americans lagging behind, this could also be a key cause as well. Bad nutrition leads to bad cognitive health. The brain is an organ and like every other, it must be taken care of. Another thing that caught my eye is the fact that Science Daily reported that a toxic environment can also have negative affects on a child’s cognitive development:

Poor and ethnic minority children in the United States have a significantly greater risk for exposure to toxic pollutants that can affect their cognitive development and other health indicators than higher income and non-minority peers […] while lead exposure in the U.S. continues to fall, African-American children living in poverty still have many times the risk of high lead exposure compared to white children. That can have a significant effect on their cognitive ability and school performance since childhood lead exposure is associated with lower IQ scores and higher restlessness, inattention and aggression.

This is very important as many of the older apartments and houses in “the hood” have lead paint and other toxins in the environment that could cause problems. The report in Science Daily also says:

Specifically, while 9.3 percent of children in the overall population who are exposed to lead score below 80 IQ points, that figure jumps to 14.2 percent in African-American children. Further, national survey data indicate that higher blood lead levels among African-American children may account for an average difference of 4.2 IQ test points compared to white children.

Yet another report on this stated:

At high doses, lead (commonly found in old paint, household dust, soil, pipe solder and some ceramics) has long been known to cause severe health problems — muscle and abdominal pain, mental symptoms, paralysis and even deathBasic research financed by the NIEHS has shown the adverse effects of lead on children’s IQ and physical development at levels previously considered safe. Based on these and other findings, public health officials declared lead the #1 environmental hazard to American children and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered what is considered to be “acceptable” blood lead levels. Reduced intelligence also results from another common contaminant, polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Fetal exposure translates into lower IQ, poor reading comprehension, memory problems and difficulty in concentration — good reasons for the FDA and state advisories warning against women of child-bearing age and children under 15 to avoid fish taken from contaminated waters.

All of this, I think, speaks for itself. Make sure your children get a well balanced diet, keep them away from dangerous pollutants, and read to them often. This is good information for everyone, but especially for African Americans. We often hear about the problems, but not so often the solutions. As simple as they may seem sometimes.