Race or class irrelevant in intelligence of babies, groundbreaking Oxford study finds

By | January 25, 2019

LONDON — Babies born in similar circumstances will thrive regardless of race or geography, Oxford-led research has found, quashing the idea that race or class determines intelligence.

In a scientific first, the team of researchers tracked the physical and intellectual development of babies around the world from the earliest days after conception to age two.

“At every single stage we’ve shown that healthy mothers have healthy babies and that healthy babies all grow at exactly the same rate,” said Professor Stephen Kennedy, the co-director of the Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute. “It doesn’t matter where you are living, it doesn’t matter what the colour of your skin is, it doesn’t matter what your race and ethnicity is, receiving decent medical care and nutrition is the key.”

The INTERGROWTH-21st Project, jointly led by Prof. Kennedy and Prof. Jose Villar at Oxford, involved nearly 60,000 mothers and babies worldwide, tracking growth in the womb, then followed more than 1,300 of the children, measuring physical growth and development.

The mothers – in locations as diverse as Brazil, India and Italy – were chosen because they were in good health and lived in similar environments. Their babies scored similarly on physical and intellectual development: in fact, researchers found more variation within racial groups than between them.

The study should help settle the ongoing debate genetics as a determination in intelligence which has been rumbling since the publication of Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve in the 1990s. The book argued that a “cognitive elite” was becoming separated from the general population.

Read More:  New Study at CWMH: A Neurosteroid Intervention for Menopausal and Perimenopausal Depression

“There’s still a substantial body of opinion out there in both the scientific and lay communities who… believe that intelligence is predominantly determined by genes and the environment that you’re living in and that your parents and grandparents were living in and their nutritional and health status are not relevant,” said Prof Kennedy. “Well, that’s clearly not the case.”

Browse a magazine or website dedicated to health and you’ll often hear that familiar commandment: take your supplements! And with good reason: minerals and vitamins play an important role in …
Canada has one of the highest prevalence rates of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the world. Each person experiences disease onset and progression in a different way.
It is one of the great successes of modern medicine that certain diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), that once had no viable treatments now have a variety of therapies …
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable disease that can have a profound impact on a person’s ability to earn a living.
Why is the government lecturing me about my habit of eating microwaved perogies in front of the TV in my pyjamas? It’s not like I have much choice in the …
If you’re wearing $ 1,000 worth of down to shield you against a crisp breeze in Toronto or Vancouver, the rest of Canada is embarrassed for you
‘God help any federal leader who’s trying to campaign on a united message because this is not a country that is feeling united’
Victoria announced plans to launch a class action lawsuit against the oil sector. Tough talk from a city whose economy is dependent on cruise ships

Health – National Post

Read More:  Who erectile dysfunction treatments