ABSTRACT
Nutrition is a fundamental part of human life and good nutrition is essential for survival, physical growth, mental development, health and well-being. The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between Nutritional Status and Academic performance of Primary School Children in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. School children from Primary three to six were used for the study and were from three randomly selected Primary Schools within Zaria and its environs in Kaduna State. 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 used which were completed by the parents or guardians of these children. Body anthropometrics such as height, weight, hip, waist, chest circumferences were measured using stadiometer and measuring tape from which BMI was calculated. The Nutritional status of the children were determined using the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) standard for BMI percentile, while the academic performance of the children were determined by finding the mean of the 5 subjects taken during their term examination. When a Childs BMI is less than 5th percentile is said to be Under weight , 5th percentile to less than 85th is said to be healthy weight, 85th to less than 95th percentile is said to be overweight, equal or greater than 95th percentile is said to be obese. The result of the present study showed that Overweight children performed better academically when compared to others with a mean academic score of 66.19�17.00, Underweight was observed to be more prevalent amongst the males than the females, while on the other hand, Overweight was more prominent in females than males. There was no statistical significant difference between the Nutritional status and Academic performance of the Primary School Children studied. The total number of children that were Underweight was 140 (71 males and 69 females) while a total number of 38 children were Overweight (12males and 26 females). Children whose parents attained tertiary education performed xv better academically than others. From the present study children whose parents are Civil servants performed better academically than others. This study also showed that a total number of 37 Children had a Heavy birth weight and tends to perform better academically than others while Children born in dry season perform better academically than children born in rainy season. Conclusively, this study showed that a high percentage of the population have Healthy weight, while only a small proportion was Obese. This could be a result of in balance in the food intake of the population and from the result the total number of children that were Overweight performed better academically than the Others which could mean that the children that were well fed and well nourished tend to do better academically than those that are not well fed and nourished.