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Nut consumption and academic performance among adolescents: the EHDLA study

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between nut consumption and academic performance in Spanish adolescents and to explore the role of sociodemographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle covariates on this association.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out using a food frequency questionnaire for estimating nut consumption in the number of 20–30 g servings per week, and academic performance data were obtained from school records. Analyses of covariance were adjusted for sociodemographic, anthropometric and lifestyle covariates, including total energy intake.

Results

Among the 846 adolescents included in the analyses (55.3% girls, age range from 12 to 17 years), the mean ± standard deviation consumption of nuts was 2.7 ± 2.8 servings per week, while the mean of all school grades recorded was 6.5 ± 2.0. Furthermore, compared to no consumption, the consumption of ≥ 3 nut servings per week was consistently associated with higher grades in language (p for trend = 0.005), combination of language and math (p for trend = 0.026), grade point average (p for trend = 0.039), and combination of all school records (p for trend = 0.046). These associations were observed regardless of all covariates considered, although sex and socioeconomic level played a significant role in the completely adjusted models.

Conclusion

Nut consumption is associated with higher academic performance in a representative sample of Spanish adolescents. These cross-sectional results should be confirmed in longitudinal and intervention studies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Ayuntamiento de Archena, as well as the participation of all the adolescents, parents/legal guardians, physical education teachers, schools, and staff implicated, and wish to thank them for the information provided. J.F.L.-G. is a Postdoctoral Fellow (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha—ID 2021-UNIVERS-10414 CP18/0150). A.E.M. was supported by a Beatriz Galindo contract (BEAGAL18/00093) by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.

Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health and Social Research Center, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain

    José Francisco López-Gil, Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno, María Medrano, Carlos Pascual-Morena & Arthur Eumann Mesas

  2. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, 3460000, Talca, Chile

    Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno

  3. PROFITH “PROmoting FITness and Health through Physical Activity” Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Francisco J. Amaro-Gahete

  4. EFFECTS-262 Research Group, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, 18016, Granada, Spain

    Francisco J. Amaro-Gahete

  5. Institute for Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain (IS-FOOD), Public University of Navarra, 31006, Pamplona, Spain

    María Medrano

  6. Universidad Politécnica y Artística del Paraguay, 001518, Asunción, Paraguay

    Celia Álvarez-Bueno

  7. Postgraduate Program in Public Health, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

    Arthur Eumann Mesas

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  1. José Francisco López-Gil
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Contributions

Conceptualization, J.F.L.-G., A.E.M., and V.M.-V.; methodology, J.F.L.-G., A.E.M., and V.M.-V; software, J.F.L.-G.; validation, J.F.L.-G.; formal analysis, J.F.L.-G.; data curation, J.F.L.-G.; writing—original draft preparation, J.F.L.-G.; writing—review and editing, V.M.-V, F.J.A.-G., M.M., C.P.-M., C.A.-B., and A.E.M.; visualization, J.F.L.-G., and A.E.M.; supervision, V.M.-V. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethics approval

This study obtained ethics approval from the Bioethics Committee of the University of Murcia (ID 2218/2018) and the Ethics Committee of the Albacete University Hospital Complex and the Albacete Integrated Care Management (ID 2021-85).

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López-Gil, J.F., Martínez-Vizcaíno, V., Amaro-Gahete, F.J. et al. Nut consumption and academic performance among adolescents: the EHDLA study. Eur J Nutr 62, 289–298 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-022-02985-x

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