The relationship between dietary micronutrients intake and cognition test performance among school-aged children in government-owned primary schools in Kumasi metropolis, Ghana

Reginald Adjetey Annan; Charles Apprey; Odeafo Asamoah-Boakye; Satoru Okonogi; Taro Yamauchi; Takeshi Sakurai

doi:10.1002/fsn3.1162

The relationship between dietary micronutrients intake and cognition test performance among school-aged children in government-owned primary schools in Kumasi metropolis, Ghana

Food Sci Nutr. 2019 Aug 9;7(9):3042-3051. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.1162. eCollection 2019 Sep.

Authors

Reginald Adjetey Annan¹, Charles Apprey¹, Odeafo Asamoah-Boakye¹, Satoru Okonogi², Taro Yamauchi³, Takeshi Sakurai²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biosciences, College of Science Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi Ghana.
² Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, School of Agricultural and Life Sciences University of Tokyo Tokyo Japan.
³ Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine Hokkaido University Sapporo Japan.

Abstract

Nutrients are critical for optimal brain development, and good nutritional status is associated with cognitive development and improvement. The relationship between micronutrients intake and cognition in Ghanaian school-aged children has not been studied. The study investigated dietary intakes of micronutrients and cognition test performance of school-aged children. A cross-sectional study was undertaken among 438 school children, aged 9-13 years from ten randomly selected basic schools in Kumasi, Ghana. Socio-demographic data were obtained from a structured questionnaire. Dietary intakes of iron, zinc, vitamin B₆, folate, vitamin B₁₂, and vitamin A were determined from repeated 24-hr dietary recall data from 351 children, while cognition test was performed using a Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM), a 36-question test. Among 351 children, 156 (44.4%) had inadequate zinc intake, whereas 96 (27.4%) had inadequate iron intake. More than 1 in 2 children had inadequate vitamin A intake while 55.8% and 53.0% had inadequate vitamin B₁₂ and folate intakes, respectively. More school-aged boys (66.3%) than girls (46.8%) had inadequate vitamin B₁₂ intake (χ ² = 13.393, p < .001), while for iron, folate, vitamin B₆, zinc, and vitamin A, the differences were not significant. Mean RCPM test score differed significantly between school type (p < .001), but did not differ between the different ages, and between children with adequate and inadequate iron, zinc, vitamin B_12, vitamin B₆, and vitamin A intakes, except for folate intake (p = .050). Weak positive significant associations were observed between RCPM test score and zinc and folate intakes (p = .050). Dietary micronutrient intakes were inadequate in majority of these children, which put them at risk of weakened immune system and poor health, but did not show significant associations with RCPM performance. Further studies using other forms of cognition tests may help confirm our findings, and provide the impetus for the necessary interventions.

Keywords: cognition tests; dietary intakes; micronutrients; school‐aged children.