(Image source from: Body immune system can determine your IQ level})

A study has revealed that any kind of body infections, for example in stomach, in the urinary tract or skin can lower the IQ (Intelligence quotient) level as compared to that of an average person.

The research was conducted on 190,000 people in the age group between 21-41 years at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. With so many people for an experiment, it is believed to be the largest of its kind. They had their IQ assessed between 2006 and 2012. Thirty five of these people had been to hospital for check-up due to infections before becoming a part of the experiment.

Michael Eriksen Benros, senior research at University of Copenhagen  said "Infections can affect the brain directly, but also through peripheral inflammation, which affects the brain and our mental capacity. Infections have previously been associated with both depression and schizophrenia, and it has also been proven to affect the cognitive ability of patients suffering from dementia. This is the first major study to suggest that infections can also affect the brain and the cognitive ability in healthy individuals."

“It seems that the immune system itself can affect the brain to such an extent that the person’s cognitive ability measured by an IQ test will also be impaired many years after the infection has been cured,” he said.

The study showed that people with five or more hospital contacts with infection had an IQ score of 9.44 lower than the average.

- Smrutirekha