Vegetarians are more intelligent?

Question

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23378331-details/Vegetarians+are+more+intelligent,+says+study/article.do

What's your opinion?
Does the vegeterian diet make you more intelligent?
Or do more intelligent people choose to become vegetarian?

Answer 1

I think it involves not the actual food that we are eating, but how conscious we are being about what goes into our bodies. Is it good for the environment for me to eat meat? Is it best for my health? Would I still eat the chicken nugget if I had to watch it butchered and made to order? These are the questions that intelligent people ask. They are simply more conscious of their eating habits. It makes sense really.

Answer 2

For one thing, that site is really misrepresenting the results, you have to go quite far into the article to see what the study actually showed

"However, further analysis of the results showed those who were brainiest as children were more likely to have become vegetarian as adults, shunning both meat and fish."

It also says

"There was no difference in IQ between strict vegetarians and those who classed themselves as veggie but still ate fish or chicken.

However, vegans - vegetarians who also avoid dairy products - scored significantly lower, averaging an IQ score of 95 at the age of 10.2"

The fact has always been that intelligent people are more likely to become vegetarian, and similarly that the council housed, binge drinking, smoking, thick-as-two-short-planks segment of the population aren't likely to give two figs about the issue. It doesn't show that vegetarianism increases intelligence and other studies have shown that it doesn't at all. In fact I think you'll find it you look at the people of similar IQs at ten, they'd end up with similar IQs at 30, regardless of diet. There is no evidence showing that it increases IQ and I find saying that more intelligent people are more likely to go veg a pointless argument.

As it said before, veggies were only as intelligent as those who ate fish and chicken. Again, I don't think people with low IQs are likely to take that option either, but as I think you'll agree people who eat fish and chicken aren't vegetarian, so it's saying a veggie diet is no better than a good omnivorous diet.
Also it says vegans were less intelligent. This would kind of go against the run of the results so far, and everyone, including myself, who has been saying that the only reason the veggies showed up higher was because they had to be more intelligent to make the choice. So the options would be either that only less intelligent people become vegan, or that veganism is detrimental to IQ. Personally I think veganism is a poor choice not befitting a rational person, but you can't rule out the other option.

All in all, you have to actually read what the study says to see that it doesn't show that vegetarianism is beneficial to IQ at all.

Answer 3

Not on an individual basis (Einstein was probably a meat eater), but on average, yes. That is what has been proven.

Since almost everyone is a meat eater, being a vegetarian indicates that you have something of an original mind. You are not afraid to go against the pack. The greatest stupidities in history have been because people went blindly with the pack. So that alone indicates some degree of intelligence. It also says that you have some compassion inside of you, and that you put thought into your diet. Those characteristics both correlate with intelligence.

So being vegetarian does not make you intelligent, but it makes you more intelligent than average. The average, unfortunately, is pretty low.

Answer 4

The vegetarian diet doesn't MAKE you more intelligent, but those who are just genetically smarter are 35% more likely of deciding to be a vegi. I have the highest GPA out of all the 400 students in my grade and I also chose to become vegetarian at the age of 5, which tells you something.I think smarter people also realize that in many ways not eating meat is bad for you so they are smart enough to stop.

Answer 5

There are not many vegetarians in America. There are a LOT of stupid people. In total numbers, I would guess the intelligent carnivores outnumber the intelligent vegetarians, whereas a greater percentage of vegetarians are intelligent.

What can we conclude from this? We can conclude that more intelligent people choose NOT to be vegetarians than people that choose the opposite, but the overwhelming number of stupid non-vegetarians brings down their average intelligence.

This is probably because to successfuly be a vegetarian, you have to know what you are doing, whereas everyone else can easily find some dead animal parts.

If you accept the premise that vegetarians are more likely to eat a balanced diet than the meat/potatoes crowd, and that a blanced diet is a healthier choice, it follows that a healthier brain works better.

Answer 6

I don't think your diet measures peoples intelligence my best friend's a vegetarian and I'm more intelligent than her my sister is also a vegetarian I admire people who are vegetarians but I'm not that disciplined or committed of a person to become a vegetarian

Answer 7

More intelligent people choose to become vegetarian. Also being a veggie takes more self-control. Something that is needed in order to study well. Which is why I'm not that great at studying for tests and I only don't eat red-meat. -_-

Answer 8

I saw this same story on livescience.com. It appears that the latter is the case, not as a matter of opinion but one of scientific fact: More intelligent people tend to become vegetarians more.

That's not to say the correlation is at all strong. I consider myself to be relatively intelligent, but I still eat meat occasionally (not every day like some people do though).

Answer 9

Neither...

The bigger ratio of vegeterians may be intellegent, which is normal since they thought the matter through and made a choice...

Surely it doesn't mean that it's the right one...
(The guy below explains why in the best way possible)

Neither does it mean that the vegetarian diet provides better brain efficiency...

You can't just make decisions and assumptions based on that...

Answer 10

Supposedly, vegetarian's/vegan's brains are able to work quicker and more accurately because the body has less saturated fat and cholesterol, but some vegetarians, though they do not et meat, still eat a lot of junk food.

People aren't necessarily more intelligent for eating veg. but they are more compassionate caring most of the time.