Student Learning Affected By Poor Nutrition

The latest Nigerian news headlines today talks about how poor nutrition affects the academic performance of young children. Adequate nutrition is a must for the mental development of a child and its deficiency can lead to various issues. Here KOFOWOROLA Belo-OSAGIA speaks about what parents need to do for their overall development of their kids especially if they wish for their academic growth. 

Besides offering them good schools, excellent teachers, and great classroom material, parents fail to understand the importance of good nutrition which is a must so that they can perform well at school. A nutritional enthusiast, Ms. Olanike Aladesuyi explained this importance to some parents in a parent-teacher forum that was organized in an Elementary school in Ogba and by J.Nissi Kindergarten. She suggested that parents need to stop giving heavy meals during breakfast. Such meals should be replaced with smoothies and fruits, and healthy meals to be given at lunchtime around 11 Am. 

During an interview with “The Nation, Ms. Aladesuyi, said that she turned to healthy living after dealing with numerous health problems. Malnutrition is one common concern in low-income families while middle-income and well-to-do families fail to provide nutritional food to their children due to sheer ignorance. She further added children face issues in concentration while studying because malnutrition leads to the deficiency of Omega-3s and B Vitamins which are the most important brain-boosting nutrients. 

Nutrients play an important role in everything we do and these nutrients are further divided into various components. Some nutrients are a must for the development of the brain while others help in better performance of the nervous system. Talking of children, some nutrients are a must for the healthy growth of your kids while some nutrients simply help them stay fit. Different genres of nutrients perform differently. If children do not eat in the right proportion, for example, deficiency of Vitamin B that takes care of the nervous system and the neurons, suck children always appear to be nervous. They find it difficult to concentrate in the classroom and lack attention as their attention span gets shorter. 

Ms. Aladesuyi truly believes that children with nutrient-deficient have low IQ (Intelligent Quotient). According to her malnutrition is not having enough food but deficiency of having the right nutrients. Some nutrients are helpful in bodybuilding and lack of it will make your kids look thin. Your child gets nutrient but it is out of proportion then their learning process can be hindered. 

From her personal experience, she even mentioned that parents should throw away commercially processed carbonated drinks and packaged juices, even calls them poison. Find an alternative to feed your kids with something healthy. Watermelon is an ideal fruit and love to consume them. If your kids create a fuss about eating fruits or salad then juice it to mix it with tiger nut mil to make it tasty. Nuts like cashew and almonds are good for their overall growth and can be replaced with fast foods. 

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