As influências recíprocas das habilidades cognitivas e da nutrição

Abstract

The mean scores obtained by students from different countries in scholastic assessments correlate strongly with the average Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of the population of the nations. In this sense, the assessments that measure the knowledge of the students can represent the general intelligence of the inhabitants of a country. The present study investigated the influence of specific cognitive abilities (CA), general intelligence (aggregate index of specific CA) and per capita income on food and nutrition of the population of the 27 states of Brazil. Also they were analyzed the impacts of good food and nutritional quality and early schooling on the variation of the general intelligence of the inhabitants of those states. The average student scores, in different areas of knowledge, in the International Student Assessment Program, which assesses students in high school, were used as specific CA measures. The impacts of specific CA and general intelligence were calculated on two indices, created in this research, for each UF of Brazil: (1) the state hunger and undernutrition index (SHUI), composed of rates of malnourished children, previous malnutrition in children and adolescents, exclusive breastfeeding, poverty and extreme poverty due to caloric needs and consumption of fruits and vegetables in the UF of Brazil and on (2) the overnutrition state index (OSI), consisting of consumption of sausages, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, ready meals and industrial mixtures, animal fat, sweets, confectionery, confectionery, fried salty foods and ice creams, percentages of overweight and obesity, Body Mass Index, individuals who want to gain weight and who want to lose weight. Overall intelligence and per capita income together account for 77% and 71% of SHUI and OSI variation, respectively, but only general intelligence or specific CA alone and statistically significant explained the variation of the SHUI and of OSI. General intelligence or specific CA are the factors that explain the associations between per capita income and food and nutritional inequalities of Brazil. The higher the specific CA or general intelligence of a UF population, the lower their rates of hunger and malnutrition, and the higher their percentages of overweight and obesity. Specific CA have almost identical influences to the impact of general intelligence on SHUI and OSI, which may give rise to a new definition of intelligence: mental development in any area of knowledge. From this definition, the analysis focus of intelligence studies can shift from the correlations between the various specific mental tests and the general factor (g), for the human being, the subject of knowledge, who is more intelligent not only by have a high IQ, but for having developed a specific CA. On the other hand, the percentages of children enrolled in school, from zero to three years old, breastfeeding rates and the percentages of people with caloric deficiency together explained 78% of the general intelligence variability of Brazil.