The study of nutritional status and academic performance of primary school children in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Aim: The present study was carried out to assess the relationship between nutritional status and academic performance of primary school children in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: School children from primary 3 to 6 were enrolled for the study and they were selected from three randomly selected primary schools within Zaria in Kaduna State, Nigeria. A total of 759 pupils made up of 385 girls and 374 boys were assessed. Ethical clearance was obtained from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, and self-administered questionnaires were completed by the parents or guardians of the children. Body anthropometrics such as height, weight, and mid-upper arm circumference were measured using a stadiometer and a measuring tape from which the body mass index (BMI) was calculated. The nutritional status of the children was determined using the Centre for Disease Control standard for BMI percentile, while the academic performance of the children was determined by finding the mean of five subjects taken during term examination. Results: The results of the present study showed that overweight children performed better academically when compared to the other children with a mean academic score of 66.19 ± 17.00; underweight was observed to be more prevalent among the males than the females, while on the other hand, overweight was more prominent in females than males. Conclusion: The present study showed that a high percentage of the population has healthy weight, while only a small proportion was obese. This could be a result of imbalance in the food intake of the population, and from the results, it was observed that the total number of children who were overweight performed better academically than the others, which could mean that the children who were well fed and well nourished tend to do better academically than those who are not.