We know many of the health risks carried by obesity, such as diabetes, various types of cancer and heart disease, but we’ve got one more on the obesity’s long list of health risks: apparently a new study shows there is a link between low academic performance and obesity.

This new study found a link between obesity in girls under 21 and low academic levels. The study was conducted by various universities in the United Kingdom and the results were published in the International Journal of Obesity. It is the first comprehensive research that looks at the association between academics and obesity in young adults.

Study Shows Link Between Low Academic Performance and Obesity – Findings

It appears that the link between obesity and low academic is clearer for girls than boys. The leader of the study and professor at the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom, John Reilly believes that there is a need for further investigation so that we can better understand why obesity is negatively connected to academic attainment.

The study was conducted on around 6,000 children and it concluded that 71.4% were at a healthy weight, 13.3% were overweight and 15.3% were obese. The results showed that girls who were obese at 11 years of age had lower academic achievement at the ages of 16, 13 and 11 years when compared with those who were of a healthy weight.

Even after the researchers took into account some factors that could interfere with the results of the study (such as mental health, IQ and social-economic status), they found that there is indeed a link between low academic performance and obesity. The girls who are obese are performing more poorly than their healthy weight colleagues.

This new study is yet another reality check for parents, educators and doctors. Did you know that in the United States, childhood obesity has quadrupled in young adults in the past 30 years? What are your thoughts on this disconcerting fact?