Search results

The association between nutrition and cognitive test performance among school children is limited in developing countries, including Ghana. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between nutrient intake and cognitive competence in the context of abstract reasoning among school-aged children in the Tamale Metropolis.

The present cross-sectional study recruited 596 children aged 9–13 years from government-owned and private primary schools in Tamale Metropolis. Dietary intake was assessed by using three-day repeated 24-hour recall. Cognition was assessed by the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) test, made up of 36 questions and used as a continuous variable, whereby higher scores indicated better cognition.

The majority of the children did not meet the recommended dietary allowances for protein (55.5%) and fibre (94.0%) and estimated adequate requirement for energy (86.6%), folate (72.8%), vitamin E (90.6%) and zinc (74.8%). More girls (55.1%) performed poorly in the cognition test than the boys (45.7%) (p = 0.029). Between-subject effects determined using univariate and multivariate analyses indicated age (p = 0.002), dietary folate (p = 0.016), vitamin C intake (p = 0.011), combined age and dietary folate (p = 0.049) and combined age and dietary vitamin C (p = 0.022) significantly affected cognition scores. Girls had lower odds (AOR = 0.7, p = 0.021, 95%CI = 0.5–0.9) of scoring above the 50th percentile in cognition test than boys.

The current nutrient intakes of the children were inadequate. The children performed poorly in Raven’s cognition test of abstract reasoning, and this was associated with being a girl.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate nutrient intakes and RCPM test performance among children in Northern Ghana. Thus, the findings of the study provide relevant information needed by stakeholders to implement nutrition programs in basic schools, aimed at ensuring optimal nutrition achievement among school children for improved cognition.

In Ghana, the body mass index (BMI) is widely used in clinical practice in assessing weight status, but it is limited as a measure of adiposity. The purpose of this study was to compare bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and body mass index (BMI) methods in determining obesity among some Ghanaians.

This was a cross-sectional survey involving 134 participants whose BMI were determined. Percentage body fat mass (%BF) and percentage visceral fat (%VF) were obtained by BIA using a hand-to-hand Omron body composition monitor with a weighing scale.

Based on the WHO BMI criteria, 6.0 per cent of the participants were obese. However, according to BIA 18.7 and 20.9 per cent of the participants were obese according to % BF and %VF, respectively. The BMI and %BF showed higher prevalence of obesity among female participants (8.2 and 34.4 per cent, respectively) than male participants (4.1 and 5.5 per cent, respectively), whereas for %VF, obesity was higher among male participants than female participants (26.0 per cent, 14.8 per cent). There was significant positive correlation between BMI and % BF (r = 0.604, p = 0.001); and between BMI and %VF (r = 0.555, p = 0.001).

There are discrepancies in the prevalence of obesity in the study population as measured by BMI and BIA methods. This suggests that the BMI and BIA may not be reliable tools for assessing obesity in this population. Further studies are needed to determine the cut-offs for BMI and BIA that are associated with metabolic risk in the population. The small sample size limits the generalizability of findings of this study.

Body composition tends to vary by ethnicity and race; hence, it is essential to determine the appropriate tool for assessing adiposity in African populations for prompt and targeted interventions.