Prevalence of Malnutrition and its Effects on Learning Process In Tetiary Institution

Abstract

This research project was titled "the prevalence of malnutrition and its effects on learning process in tetiary institution. Malnutrition has been identified according to research by WHO (2021) as a major factor that impedes learning and cognitive function among others .The aim of this research therefore was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and its effects on tetiary institution students' learning process. The research design used in this study was correlational,50 respondents out of the 400 level students of the University of Benin FCE(T) Akoka, were selected from each department using the systematic random sampling. A well structured questionaire which comprised of respondents' anthropometric measurements, food frequency questionnaire, and a section for their scores or academic performance in Curriculum Studies and also their GP for the semester. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version (23). The result depicted that there was only a slight significance in the respondents nutritional status (food frequency questionnaire) and their cognitive performance (r=0.043)(p <0.05) and (r=0.032)(p<0.05)which implied that there was little or no significance in respondents anthropometric status and cognitive performance. Conclusively, this study asserted that malnutrition is not only the factor that impedes learning process in students, even though the nutritional status of the respondents are not so good. It therefore recommended the need for Nutrition Education to improve students Nutritional status for their overall wellbeing.