Body composition is related to cognitive function among young adults in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence suggests that obesity can affect cognitive function. However, it is unclear whether this effect is independent of obesity-related comorbidities. This study thus sought to determine the association between body composition and cognitive function of young adults in Ghana with less predisposition to obesity-related comorbidities. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was employed, involving 381 participants recruited by simple random sampling. After consenting, participants completed questionnaires that assessed sociodemographic characteristics, along with assessments for anthropometric measures and cognitive function. Analyses for associations were conducted by either Pearson's correlation test or chi-Square test of independence. RESULTS: Over half (60%) of participants were females and 69.6% were in the first year with a mean age of 20.18 ± 2.52 years. Based on Pearson's correlation test, no significant association was found between Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR), and Trail Making Test-A and B (TMT-A and TMT-B). Nonetheless, a chi-square test showed a significant association, between BMI and TMT-A (p = 0.01), and WHR and both TMT-A (p = 0.001) and TMT-B (p = 0.02). Weak direct correlations were found between body fat percentage and TMT-A (r = 0.120, p = 0.019) and TMT-B (r = 0.133, p = 0.009). Further, a weak inverse correlation was found between muscle mass and TMT-A (r = - 0.141, p = 0.006) and TMT-B (r = - 0.144, p = 0.005). CONCLUSION: High body fat, low muscle mass and body fat distribution may have a significant association with cognitive functions and must be considered in obesity interventions. This study provided more insight on the association between BMI and cognitive function and would be helpful in designing new weight management interventions or modifying existing interventions to consider the influence of obesity on cognitive function.

Pregnancy as a Fundamental Determinant of Child Health: a Review.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Maternal conditions and exposures during pregnancy including over- and undernutrition are associated with poor childbirth outcomes, growth, development and chronic childhood diseases. We examined contemporary pregnancy-related determinants of child health. RECENT FINDINGS: While maternal undernutrition remains a major contributor to low birth weight, maternal obesity affects foetal growth, birth weight, survival and is associated with childhood obesity, asthma and autistic spectrum disorders. Emerging evidence suggests that epigenetic changes, the prenatal microbiome and maternal immune activation (MIA), a neuroinflammatory process induced by diet and other exposures cause foetal programming resulting in these chronic childhood diseases. Maternal diet is potentially a modifiable risk factor for controlling low birth weight, obesity and chronic disease in childhood. Further studies are warranted to refine guidance on dietary restriction and physical activity during pregnancy and determine how MIA and prenatal microbiota can be applied to control childhood diseases arising from programming.

Comparative study of the nutritional composition of local brown rice, maize (obaatanpa), and millet-A baseline research for varietal complementary feeding.

INTRODUCTION: Childhood malnutrition remains a major public health issue of concern particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and inadequate complementary feeding is a common cause. Promoting dietary diversity is one way of tackling this problem. High dependence on maize has its limitations; modifying other local staples into complementary foods can be a feasible alternative to promote optimum nutrition. OBJECTIVES: Comparing the nutritional composition of brown rice to millet and maize to determine its beneficial value as complementary food. METHODS: Experimental study was carried out at the Department of Nutrition and Food Science of University of Ghana. Samples of maize, millet, and brown rice were obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture, Accra and nutritional contents analyzed. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0 and ANOVA were used to assess differences. RESULTS: Results showed brown rice contained the highest content of carbohydrates (77.94 ± 0.32) % and zinc (12.15 ± 0.21) mg while millet had the highest protein (10.49 ± 0E-7) mg and fat (4.99 ± 0.46) % content. Maize contained highest amount of calcium (21.24 ± 0.14) mg. Iron was only found in millet (10.72 ± 0.15) mg. The zinc content per 100 g of all three (3) cereals was above RDA. All three (3) cereals contributed significantly <10% to the RDA of calcium. Iron content of millet contributed more than 90% to RDA. CONCLUSIONS: Locally produced brown rice is rich in zinc and carbohydrates compared to millet and maize. Thus, can be used for complementary feed but, given the low protein and iron content, it may need to be fortified or diversified and used as a cereal blend.

Nutritional counselling interactions between health workers and caregivers of children under two years: observations at selected child welfare clinics in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the Health Works (HWs) nutritional counselling skills and information shared with caregivers. This was a cross-sectional study in which an observation checklist was used to examine Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) activities and educational/counselling activities undertaken by health workers (HWs) to communicate nutrition information to caregivers, depending on the ages of the children. METHODS: A total number of 528 counselling interactions between health workers and caregivers in 16 Child welfare Clinics (CWCs) in two rural districts in Ghana were observed. Frequencies were presented for the information that was obtained from each caregiver and those that were provided by the HWs during the nutritional counselling sessions. RESULTS: About 95.1 and 61.8% of the caregiver-HW interactions involved mothers of children who were less than 6 months of age and those above 6 months respectively. HWs counselled the caregivers on appropriate nutrition for the child. Health talk messages that were shared with caregivers focused mainly on the importance of attending CWCs and vaccination of children and rarely included any teaching materials. In most of the interactions, HWs made of child's feeding practices the past 1 month; and also did not provide advice on specific issues of IYCF. Nutritional counselling information given for non-breastfeeding children was inadequate and in some cases absent. Little attention was given to the feeding of children with animal products during counselling. CONCLUSION: Generally nutritional information given to caregivers who had children above 6 months was inadequate.

Exploring the relationship between the big five personality characteristics and dietary habits among students in a Ghanaian University.

BACKGROUND: Adherence to good dietary practices has been linked to disease prevention and better quality of life yet, University students are known to have poor dietary intake and diet quality. For an effective behaviour modification in dietary habits, an understanding of the association between an individual's personality traits and dietary habits are of much significance. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between personality traits and dietary habits among University students in Ghana. METHODS: A cross-sectional design involving 400 students was employed. Information on socio-demographic characteristics and Body Mass Index were obtained. The big 5 Personality traits (extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness and neuroticism) was assessed using a 50-item International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) by Goldberg. The three factor eating questionnaire (TFEQ) was used to obtain further information on dietary habits. RESULTS: The majority of the students had high scores for conscientiousness. Except for neuroticism, all the personality traits had a significant association with at least one of the dietary habits explored. Extraversion was positively associated with neophagia (p = 0.028) and food interest (p = 0.008), conscientiousness was associated with variety (p = 0.045) and sugar moderation (p = 0.006), agreeableness was associated with neophagia (p = 0.005), skipping of meals (p = 0.007) and variety (p = 0.005) and openness associated with food interest (p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Personality traits showed associations with certain dietary habits but further studies are required to identify persons who are at risk of diet related diseases to inform the development of appropriate interventions.

Anaemia in pregnant adolescent girls with malaria and practicing pica.

INTRODUCTION: Pregnancy during the adolescent period is challenging mainly because of the nutritional demands of both the adolescent and pregnancy period. The risk for anaemia increases especially in developing countries such as Ghana where malaria is endemic and the practice of pica is common. In this study, we sought to determine the prevalence of anaemia, pica practice and malaria infection among pregnant adolescent girls and assess the extent to which these factors are associated. METHODS: Two hundred and sixty five (265) pregnant adolescent girls were recruited from three hospitals in Accra. Haemoglobin levels, malaria infection and the practice of pica were assessed. Pearson's Chi squared tests were used to determine associations and logistic regression analysis was used to determine the odds of being anaemic. Significance was set at p≤0.05. RESULTS: Anaemia prevalence was 76% with severity ranging from mild (47.8%) to severe (0.8%). About 27.5% were moderately anaemic. Pica was practiced in only 9.1% of the girls. Malaria infection was prevalent in 17.7% of the girls. The logistic regression analysis indicated that pregnant girls with malaria infection were 3.56 times more likely to be anaemic when compared to those without malaria. Also, those who practiced pica were 1.23 times more likely to be anaemic when compared to those who did not practice pica. CONCLUSION: Anaemia is very prevalent in pregnant adolescent girls and is a public health problem. Drastic measures should be taken to reduce the high prevalence.