CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
In Nigeria today with the level of exposure and improvement in knowledge on health, food and nutrition, there have being a significant growth in the mental status of school aged children (Benton, 2009).
Nutrition is usually considered to be important for physical health but mental health must be taken as equally important. Research in the field has shown that nutrition is one of many factors that potentially influence a child’s development besides genetic, socio-economic, environmental and behavioural factors (Associate Parliamentary & Health, 2008; Bryan et al., 2004). Understanding the relationship between nutrition and mental performance in children is important regarding their attainment and productivity both in school and in later life (Alderman, Behrman, Lavy, & Menon, 1997; Florence, Asbridge, & Veugelers, 2008). To date, there is a growing body of evidence that diet might influence the development and functioning of the brain which in turn has an effect on mental performance as a functional outcome, especially when the brain is still developing during childhood and early adolescence (Benton, 2008a).
A diet containing too many ingredients that are detrimental in excess or lacking essential nutrients is likely to have adverse consequences for mental outcomes (Associate Parliamentary & Health, 2008) whereas a balanced diet is important for physical wellbeing and mental health, with implications for school performance (Associate Parliamentary & Health, 2008; Florence et al., 2008). Thus, children should have a varied diet with good nutritional content and regular intake to ensure the best possible cognitive development and performance (Bellisle, 2004). Since parents are seen as gate keepers to a child’s diet and provide the key environment for the development of a child’s eating behaviours (Birch & Davison, 2008; K. A. Brown, Ogden, Vogele, & Gibson, 2008), they constitute an important group of consumers for nutritional communication through policies, public health intervention programmes as well as through health claims on functional food products. Parents influence all aspects of a child’s life to some degree including the development of food choices as well as controlling the availability and types of food in the home (R. Brown & Ogden, 2004; Golan & Crow, 2004). Moreover, parents’ own eating behaviours influence those of their children (Birch & Davison, 2005) and thus the family provides a key environment for young children to learn and develop eating habits and food preferences. As children grow and attend school other people such as peers and teachers become more important influences (Perez-Rodrigo & Aranceta, 2006) and children gradually become more independent of their parents. The family is seen as one of the major contexts of a child’s development which includes cognitive development and achievement (Scott-Jones, 2004).
1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
Over the years in Nigeria there has been questionings as regards the performance of students in most schools in Nigeria. In Esan West for instance, it has been found that the rate of assimilation of school aged children is very poor despite the availability of instructional materials. Some of the problems might be as a result of malnutrition or over nutrition and this might have significant effect on the mental development of the school aged children in Esan West local government area of Edo state. Secondly there have been several research on the nutrition, malnutrition but not even a single study have been carried out on the effect of malnutrition on mental development of school aged children in Esan West local government area of Edo State