Correlation among body height, intelligence, and brain gray matter volume in healthy children

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.092

NeuroImage

Volume 59, Issue 2, 16 January 2012, Pages 1023-1027

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.092 Get rights and content

Abstract

A significant positive correlation between height and intelligence has been demonstrated in children. Additionally, intelligence has been associated with the volume of gray matter in the brains of children. Based on these correlations, we analyzed the correlation among height, full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) and gray matter volume applying voxel-based morphometry using data from the brain magnetic resonance images of 160 healthy children aged 5–18 years of age. As a result, body height was significantly positively correlated with brain gray matter volume. Additionally, the regional gray matter volume of several regions such as the bilateral prefrontal cortices, temporoparietal region, and cerebellum was significantly positively correlated with body height and that the gray matter volume of several of these regions was also significantly positively correlated with full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) scores after adjusting for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Our results demonstrate that gray and white matter volume may mediate the correlation between body height and intelligence in healthy children. Additionally, the correlations among gray and white matter volume, height, and intelligence may be at least partially explained by the effect of insulin-like growth factor-1 and growth hormones. Given the importance of the effect of environmental factors, especially nutrition, on height, IQ, and gray matter volume, the present results stress the importance of nutrition during childhood for the healthy maturation of body and brain.

Highlights

► Body height was significantly positively correlated with brain gray matter volume. ► The correlation was found in the prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal region. ► Several of these regions were significantly correlated with intelligence quotient.

Introduction

The famous aphorism, mens sana in corpore sano (i.e., “a sound mind in a sound body”) is as relevant today as in the time of Juvenal. Insofar as intelligence is an indication of a healthy brain and height is an indicator of a healthy body, the high correlation between IQ and height seen in children (Tuvemo et al., 1999, Wheeler et al., 2004) and young adults (Humphreys et al., 1985, Teasdale et al., 1989) suggests parallel development of the two measures. Moreover, growth velocity was associated with IQ in a longitudinal study (Lundgren et al., 2001). Thus, it is suggested that taller stature is associated with higher IQ.

To explain the correlation between height and IQ, we hypothesized that brain structure may mediate the relationship in that several recent studies have shown a significant positive correlation between brain regional gray matter volume and IQ (Frangou et al., 2004, Haier et al., 2004, Shaw et al., 2006, Wilke et al., 2003). Specifically, several gray matter regions are significantly correlated with IQ, including the prefrontal cortex (Shaw et al., 2006), orbitofrontal cortex (Frangou et al., 2004), cingulate gyrus (Frangou et al., 2004, Wilke et al., 2003), and cerebellum (Frangou et al., 2004). Additionally, it is plausible that regional gray matter volume may mediate the correlation between height and IQ because the main environmental determinant of height is nutrition (Silventoinen, 2003) and because differences in breakfast dietary habits affect not only IQ, but also gray matter volume in healthy children (Taki et al., 2010). Although revealing the correlation among height, IQ, and gray matter volume is important from the perspective of developing a healthy lifestyle, including a sound diet, in children, the correlation among body height, intelligence, and gray matter volume has not yet been clarified.

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze whether a significant correlation between the gray and white matter volumes of the brain and body height existed using brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 160 healthy children aged 5–18 years of age. In addition, we also analyze the correlation between regional gray and white matter volume and full-scale IQ in the same subjects, and compare the two results to check whether there are overlapping regions that show significant correlation with height and also significant correlation with full-scale IQ. We collected brain magnetic resonance (MR) images, full-scale IQ scores, verbal IQ (vIQ) scores, and performance IQ (pIQ) scores. Correlations between regional gray and white matter volume and body height, and between regional gray and white matter volume and IQ were analyzed by applying voxel-based morphometry (VBM), which is an established automated neuroimaging technique that enables global analysis of brain structures without a priori identification of a region of interest so that it is not biased toward any specific brain region, thereby permitting the identification of potential structural differences or abnormalities in the brain (Ashburner and Friston, 2000). Therefore, we used VBM to conduct an unbiased search for relationships between brain structure and height or IQ.

Section snippets

Subjects

All subjects were healthy Japanese children included in the Japanese database of normal pediatric brain MRIs. They were recruited in the following manner. First, we distributed 29,740 advertisements summarizing this study to kindergartens, elementary, junior high, and high schools in Miyagi Prefecture in Japan. Then, the 1423 parents of subjects with an interest in this study contacted us by mail. Next, we mailed both child and parent versions of detailed information concerning this study to

Results

Height showed a significant positive correlation with full-scale IQ (partial correlation coefficient: C = 0.257; P = 0.001), vIQ (C = 0.261; P < 0.001), and pIQ (C = 0.187; P = 0.019) after adjusting for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. On the other hand, we found no significant correlation between weight and full-scale IQ (C = 0.140; P = 0.081) or between BMI and full-scale IQ (C = − 0.001; P = 0.988) after adjusting for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Thus, we focused on height in our further analyses.

Discussion

We demonstrated that the regional gray matter volume of several regions such as the bilateral basal aspect of the temporal lobe, the prefrontal cortices, and the cerebellum were significantly positively correlated with body height after adjusting for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Although no study has directly shown a significant correlation between height and regional gray matter volume, recent studies have shown a significant positive correlation between height and brain volume or total

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B).

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Correlation among body height, intelligence, and brain gray matter volume in healthy children

Abstract

Highlights

Introduction

Section snippets

Subjects

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Brain Res.

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

Neuron

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

J. Neuroimmunol.

Brain Res. Mol. Brain

Metab. Clin. Exp.

NeuroImage

Mol. Cell. Neurosci.

Growth hormone action on proliferation and differentiation of cerebral cortical cells from fetal rat

Endocrinology

Glucocorticoid exposure at the dose used clinically alters cytoskeletal proteins and presynaptic terminals in the fetal baboon brain

J. Physiol.

Japanese Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

Quantitative genetic modeling of variation in human brain morphology

Cereb. Cortex