A systematic review of the effect of dietary exposure that could be achieved through normal dietary intake on learning and performance of school-aged children of relevance to UK schools.

Study answer

What this study found

Overall, evidence was insufficient and inconsistent to show that dietary exposure or supplementation reliably improves learning, educational performance, or behavior in school-aged children. The clearest signal was for some EPA/DHA-rich fish oil formulations, where small benefits were reported in certain studies and the effect appeared to depend on dose and duration. Low-dose multivitamin/mineral evidence was mixed: one US trial reported a modest non-verbal IQ increase (P=0.038), while a British adolescent study found no significant effect. The single very small Mexican study of a…

Study & population

Systematic review of studies in developed countries assessing whether diet or dietary change affects learning, educational performance, and behavior in school-aged children aged 4 to 18 years.

Intervention

This review covered several dietary interventions relevant to school performance, but the supplement-focused regimens were mainly omega-3 formulations and low-dose multivitamin/mineral products.

Key limitation

The included studies were highly heterogeneous in intervention type, duration, and outcome measures, with many short-term trials and limited use of universal validated educational attainment tools.

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Original abstract