Are you a parent of a big-headed baby? Here’s something that’ll probably make you feel pretty pleased: research from the UK Biobank has found that babies born with a larger head circumference tend to be smarter and are more likely to go to university, as Kidspot reports.
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The UK Biobank is a health resource for researchers that has information from over 500,000 people aged 37-73 years old. The study used data from over 110,000 individuals aged 40-73 years.
Published in Molecular Psychiatry, the study found that larger infant head circumferences were linked to “increased likelihood of a college degree” and “higher scores on verbal-numerical reasoning.”
On the next page: is size everything?
Is size everything?
It would be too simplistic to say that the size of your baby’s head will determine his future. Note how Albert Einstein’s brain weighed less than most—indicating that in the end, quality, not quantity, is more important.
“In addition to there being shared genetic influences between cognitive skills and some physical and mental health states, the study also found that cognitive skills share genetic influences with brain size, body shape and educational attainments,” Professor Ian Deary, the study’s lead author, told Neuroscience News.
Taking care of your child’s health is the best way to ensure that he reaches his full potential, as researcher Saskia Hagenaars noted. “The study supports an existing theory which says that those with better overall health are likely to have higher levels of intelligence,” she wrote.
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