A Cross-sectional Assessment of Body Mass Index and Cognitive Abilities in School-Going Girls

Abstract

Body Mass Index is a pointer for measuring nutritional health in children and adolescents. Cognition means attention, memory, problem-solving, and decision-making. Cognitive development mainly happened in childhood, and factors such as nutrition, environment, genetics, and socioeconomic status can influence cognitive abilities. Recent research has explored about BMI and cognitive functions, including attention and reasoning. A widely used paradigm to assess cognitive control is the Stroop task. In this study, 439 apparently healthy school-going girls from classes I to X, representing various socio-economic backgrounds, were randomly recruited from schools in the Udaipur subdivision, Gomati District, Tripura. After measuring height and weight, participants were individually tested using a mobile-based modified stroop test. to assess mental attention. Reaction time measured using the mobile app (Bensoft, 2016). The results indicate, there is no significant difference found among subjects classified by BMI percentiles as underweight, normal, and overweight-obese. However, reaction time is negatively correlated with BMI.  But, correlation (partial)controlling for age revealed no significant relationship between BMI and either cognitive ability & reaction time. The present study suggest that BMI does not have an inhibitory effect on cognitive performance, as measured by Stroop performance and also reaction time, in school-going girls of the present study.