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.)

Re:IQ means nothing...

[kfg]

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

What Words?

[malvidin]

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

Re:frist psot

[Pflipp]

wow, you must be fat!!

Fat and Stupid?

[Ranger]

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.

Re:Timothy has low IQ?

[Golias]

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?

Re:BMI is not accurate

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

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.

Sounds right then, most body builders I've met aren't exactly bright...

IQ means nothing, MENSA is pointless and so on

[BeeBeard]

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.

Perhaps...

[OpenSourced]

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.

Re:BMI is not accurate

[tepples]

During the rainy season, I don't exersize, so I lose muscle mass and get skinny

Tip: Dance Dance Revolution.

Re:BMI is not accurate

[gEvil (beta)]

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

Yes, we've noticed. : p

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

Of course IQ measures something...

[Morosoph]

Specifically, IQ measures how slim you are!

Re:IQ Tests

[nizo]

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!

BMI to IQ? UNPOSSIBLE!

[davidsyes]

I think their little "test" failed to consider that people with larger BMI have Balanced Multiple Inputs, and their brains are more "distributed". It is a FACT that distributed nodes have slightly longer data pathways in fuller people than in smaller people.

Their test is quite inflammable and uncindiary.

Re:Timothy has low IQ?

[644bd346996]

Mensa is full of the haughty smart people who like to do inane mind-bending puzzles and brag about their high IQ. They piss off almost everybody else on the planet, including the managers that could promote them.

Re:IQ means nothing...

[Columcille]

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.

Mensa bashing

[Andy Social]

Hey! I'm a Mensa member and ... Oh, never mind, it's acutely accurate. *sigh*

I Confess Ignorance

[Morosoph]

...but I am glad to hear it :o)

Let all be punished in heck, I say!

Re:BMI = Worthless

[name*censored*]

hmmmmm it's a shame the weight you lost wasn't from your massive ego :\

Mine's bigger

[jvance]

Well, I've received an invitation to Intertel, and depending on which IQ test you prefer, I qualify for the Triple 9 Society, but not Prometheus. So, from the eyrie of my formidable intellect, I judge BeeBeard to be the more articulate, thoughtful poster.

Smart people who don't realize that intelligence is only one dimension of a well rounded person - who are arrogant about their intelligence - truly are stupid.

Speaking of arrogance, I'm 43, my BMI is 20, my body fat is 10% and my resting pulse is under 50bpm. So Pthththththt!

Re:Mutual Admiration

[rumblin'rabbit]

Witty losers, you say?

Have I got a web site [slashdot.org] for you!

It's true

[Centurix]

I've visited the Calista Flockhart jet propulsion lab here in Tasmania, they're working on a new solid vomit booster.

Hmmm, let's see

[HangingChad]

30% of Americans fat and stupid

Bush approval ratings still around 30%

Coincidence?

Re:Timothy has low IQ?

[ClosedSource]

I always thought that the phrase "real world" excluded academic achievement by definition.

Do these high obesity rates affect the average IQ?

[wonkavader]

No, of course not. We're fat BECAUSE we're stupid.

Re:But what's your suggestion?

[Fred_A]

A suggestion I heard was ratio of fat weight over muscle weight. Don't know how to calculate that though.

Easy, take a core sample and measure the various tissues.

"now this may sting a little"