There is an upside to childhood poverty?

People who sometimes went hungry as a child have less cognitive decline in old age...

Dec. 10, 2012 — People who sometimes went hungry as children had slower cognitive decline once they were elderly than people who always had enough food to eat, according to a new study published in the December 11, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"These results were unexpected because other studies have shown that people who experience adversity as children are more likely to have problems such as heart disease, mental illness and even lower cognitive functioning than people whose childhoods are free of adversity," said study author Lisa L. Barnes, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

The study involved 6,158 people with an average age of 75 who were living in Chicago. Participants, 62 percent of whom were African American, were asked about their health as children, their family's financial situation, and their home learning environment, based on how often others read or told them stories or played games with them. Then every three years for up to 16 years, participants took cognitive tests to measure any changes.