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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1524810

Micronutrient status, food security, anemia, Plasmodium infection, and physical activity as predictors of primary schoolchildren's body composition in Côte d'Ivoire

Provisionally accepted
Kurt Long Kurt Long 1*Sylvain G Traoré Sylvain G Traoré 2Kouadio Benal KOUASSI Kouadio Benal KOUASSI 2Jean Tenena Coulibaly Jean Tenena Coulibaly 2Bomey C Gba Bomey C Gba 2Daouda Dao Daouda Dao 2JOhanna Beckmann JOhanna Beckmann 3Christin Lang Christin Lang 3Harald Seelig Harald Seelig 3Nicole Probst Nicole Probst 1Uwe Puehse Uwe Puehse 3Markus Gerber Markus Gerber 3Jürg Utzinger Jürg Utzinger 1Bassirou Bonfoh Bassirou Bonfoh 2
  • 1 Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Basel, Switzerland
  • 2 Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
  • 3 Departement für Sport, Bewegung und Gesundheit, Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Stunting and overt malnutrition remain prevalent among school age children in rural areas of Côte d'Ivoire while obesity is increasing in urban areas. Associations of children's nutritional status, plasmodium infection, physical activity and household characteristics with body composition were analyzed to identify what factors might be contributing to this dual burden of disease.Methods: Longitudinal growth curve models (LGCM) evaluated associations of micronutrient status, household food security, P. falciparum prevalence and physical activity assessed at three time points with fat free mass and fat mass.Results: More severe anemia was inversely associated with FFM and TrFFM trajectories overall and among girls. Plasmodium falciparum infection had an indirect inverse association with FFM trajectories through anemia among girls and through reductions of vitamin A directly associated with FFM. Changes in zinc concentrations were positively associated with FM trajectories overall and among boys. Food insecurity was inversely associated with FFM among boys from lower socioeconomic status (SES) households while increased MVPA was associated with reduced fat mass among girls.The integration of Malaria control programs with efforts to improve household healthy diet and promote physical activity can lead to improvements in body composition and overall child health and well-being.

    Keywords: Body Composition, Micronutrients, Anemia, Food insecurity, Plasmodium falciparum

    Received: 08 Nov 2024; Accepted: 27 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Long, Traoré, KOUASSI, Coulibaly, Gba, Dao, Beckmann, Lang, Seelig, Probst, Puehse, Gerber, Utzinger and Bonfoh. 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: Kurt Long, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Basel, Switzerland

    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.