There’s yet another great reason to get your kids eating greens

This is definitely one of the best reasons to start munching on those greens - ASAP.

We know our veggies provide our bodies with essential vitamins, nutrients and proteins. The more we eat from the veggie isle, the more our skin glows and the more upbeat and lively we feel. However, it always seems to be that bit easier for us adults to eat vegetables rather than the kids, but a new study shows there’s another worthwhile reason to encourage them to get those greens into their bellies. You may be familiar with lutein, the incredible vitamin synthesized only by plants, high concentrations of which is found in green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach. You may also be familiar with the vitamin if you’ve ever taken supplements for your vision as it’s often marketed for vision improvement too. Well researchers at the University of Illinois are helping us to further realise the benefits of this glorious lutein. They studied 49 children between the ages of 8 and 10 who were shown to have high levels of lutein in the brain. What’s very cool indeed is that this can be seen by testing their eyes as lutein creates a yellow pigment around the retina of the eye. Using controls in relation to IQ, gender and fitness, the study measured the children’s brain activity and performance. Those with higher levels of lutein performed much better in standard academic and cognitive tests. Cognitive neuroscientist and one of the study's lead researchers,  Anne M Walk said,

“We also know that these pigments are found in high quantities in the infant brain. That suggests they’re important in some way for brain development." "In this case, it appears that children with more lutein in the eye had higher performance and needed less cognitive engagement to accurately perform the task."

On a side note, researchers did say socio-economic status could have a significant part to play in the study as those from wealthier backgrounds tend to eat healthier. Kinesiology and community health professor, Naiman Khan said,

"These results do not causally prove that lutein is responsible for the differences seen in performance. However, the new studies are a first step in understanding the potential role of lutein as a food component that may be important for childhood cognition.”

Well if it's going to make baba happier and improve baby's cognitive skills, we're all for more playing with our vegetable food in the hope that they'll all be gobbled up.