INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NUTRITIOUS FOOD HABIT, OBESITY, ANXIETY AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN OF KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL

Abstract

The development of a nation is closely interlinked with the educational level of its future citizens. Various studies have provided enough evidence of the importance of proper nutrition to the cognitive development of an individual which also affects their educational achievements. Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental disorders in developed countries. On the other hand, obesity is recognized to be one of the greatest public health problems worldwide. The present study was designed for understanding the interrelationship between nutritious food habit, obesity, anxiety and academic achievement of the primary school children. Standard questionnaires were adopted and applied on the target population to measure the different attributes. The collected data were statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient (P less than 0.05). Study revealed a significant negative relationship between academic achievement and obesity (measured by body mass index or BMI) of the children (-0.474**, P less than 0.01).Similar kind of relationship was also observed among nutritious food habit score and obesity (-0.795**, P less than 0.01).But there exist a positive significant relationship between anxiety and obesity (0.223*, P less than 0.05). It is interesting to note that moderate anxiety enhances academic achievement of the student rather than low or severe anxiety. It is suggested from the present study that the childhood i.e golden period for learning should provide better nutrition .Therefore the importance of nutrition in primary school curriculum and improvement of the learning environment related to nutrition need to be emphasized on school campuses.