ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Children and Health

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1552215

This article is part of the Research TopicBuilding Health Through Physical Activity in Schools - Volume IIView all 10 articles

Association between physical activity, nutritional status and cognitive performance among school children in southern Tanzania

Provisionally accepted
Fahad S MwakalebelaFahad S Mwakalebela1,2*Elihaika MinjaElihaika Minja1,3Yohana A MwalugeloYohana A Mwalugelo1Erick Daniel KillelErick Daniel Killel2,4Rehema K RajabRehema K Rajab1,2Getrud J MollelGetrud J Mollel1,5Winifrida MponziWinifrida Mponzi1Honorati MasanjaHonorati Masanja1Fredros O OkumuFredros O Okumu1,6Christin LangChristin Lang7Markus GerberMarkus Gerber7Jürg UtzingerJürg Utzinger7Kurt LongKurt Long7Efraim M KosiaEfraim M Kosia2Ester ElisariaEster Elisaria1Marceline F FindaMarceline F Finda1
  • 1Ifakara Health Institute, Ifakara, Tanzania
  • 2Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Arusha, Tanzania
  • 3Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Basel, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland
  • 4Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center (COSTECH), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • 5Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, School of Medicine, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • 6University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • 7Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

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Physical activity is pivotal in promoting overall health and wellbeing, improving brain function, cognitive performance and reducing risk of excessive weight and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Despite these benefits, physical inactivity among children and adolescents remains a global concern, particularly in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Limited studies have explored the association between physical activity, nutritional status, and cognitive performance in LMICs like Tanzania. This study assessed these associations among schoolchildren in a rural setting in southern Tanzania.

Keywords: Christin Lang: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, supervision, Validation, Writing -review & editing. Ester Elisaria: Conceptualization

Received: 03 Jan 2025; Accepted: 25 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Mwakalebela, Minja, Mwalugelo, Killel, Rajab, Mollel, Mponzi, Masanja, Okumu, Lang, Gerber, Utzinger, Long, Kosia, Elisaria and Finda. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Fahad S Mwakalebela, Ifakara Health Institute, Ifakara, Tanzania

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material