MONDAY July 7, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Children eating a diet rich in protein and other nutrients between birth and 24 months increases their intellectual capacity, a study has found.

The results published in the July issue or Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine showed that those who ate a nutrient rich diet between birth and 2 years had an intellectual gain that was equal to 0.5 years of schooling. In girls, the gain could be as much as 1.2 years.

"Schooling is a key component of the development of literacy, reading comprehension and cognitive functioning, and thus of human capital," the authors wrote as background information in the article.

"Both nutrition and early-childhood intellectual enrichment are likely to be important determinants of intellectual functioning in adulthood."

For the trial, researchers followed children in four villages in Guatemala between 1969 and 1977 with some exposed to atole-a protein-rich enhanced nutritional supplement and others exposed to fresco, a sugar-sweetened beverage.

Aryeh D. Stein, M.P.H., Ph.D., of Emory University, Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed data from intellectual testing and interviews conducted between 2002 and 2004 when 1,448 surviving participants were an average of 32 years old.

Those who were exposed to atole between birth and age 24 months scored a bit higher on intellectual tests of reading comprehension and cognitive functioning in adulthood than those not exposed to atole during such a period.

The association held true after other factors associated with intellectual functioning such as years of schooling was considered.

"Nutrition in early life is associated with markers of child development in this population, and exposure to atole for most of the first three years of life was associated with an increase of 0.4 years in attained schooling, with the association being stronger for females (1.2 years of schooling)," the authors wrote.

"Thus, schooling might be in the causal pathway between early childhood nutrition and adult intellectual functioning."

The researchers concluded "Our data, which suggest an effect of exposure to an enhanced nutritional intervention in early life that is independent of any effect of schooling, provide additional evidence in support of intervention strategies that link early investments in children to continued investments in early-life nutrition and in schooling."

The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and from the National Science Foundation.