THE IMPACT OF NUTRITION ON INTELLIGENCE PERFORMANCE OF SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN IN IBADAN

Abstract

A total of six hundred and four (604) children aged between 61 and 96 months were recruited from nine primary schools (private and public) within lbadan and its environs, to study the impact of nutrition on intelligence performance of school age children. Both males and females were represented in the study. Socio-economic background, anthropometric and haematological data were collected. Some intelligence tests that were modified to suit the Nigerian context were compiled and administered individually to the children in their respective schools. A dietary survey was also carried out to further investigate the effect of nutrient intake on intelligence performance. Also, an attempt was made to investigate the effect of prenatal nutrition (as measured by birth weight) on later intelligence performance. For the purpose of analysis the children were divided into three groups based on their environmental setting using the socio-economic data collected. The results of the study revealed that there are malnourished children than normal children within the study population. Further clarification of the malnourished children shows that most of them had 1st degree malnutrition. Using height for age as the

nutritional Index, 47.33% of the total population were normal while the remaining 52.77% were malnourished. 33.99% of the malnourished population had 1st degree malnutrition, while 16.41% and 2.37% had 2nd degree and 3rd degree malnutrition respectively. The study also revealed that the nutritional status and intelligence performance of the urban (elite) children were better, compared to the urban (others); while the urban (others) were better than the rural group. The mean intelligence test scores of the urban (elite) was 108.05+ 22.29, while the urban (others) and rural groups scored 80.05+15.10 and 69.05+14.96 respectively. Using height and weight as nutritional indices, the urban (elite) group were better nourished than the urban (others) and rural groups. The mean height for the urban (elites) was 115.75+4.65cm and their mean weight was 19.05+ 2.4kg compared to the urban (others) and rural groups, that had a mean height of 110.94+4.31cm and 107.64+4.81cm, and a mean weight of 16.47+1.61kg and 15.51+1.74kg respectively. No significant relationship was found between birth weight an intelligence performance. The dietary survey showed that the dietary constituents of the urban (elite) group were more varied than the urban (others) and rural group and this could have been responsible for the different nutritional status observed among these groups. The result further showed that height for age predicted intelligence performance better than all the other nutritional parameters employed in the study.