Implementation Science Approach to Adolescent Nutrition and Neurodevelopment

Seth Adu-Afarwuah of the University of Ghana in Ghana and Julie Croff of Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in the U.S. will assess the effects of nutritional supplementation on adolescent brain development in low-resource settings to support interventions. Nutritional behavior majorly impacts the rapid stage of adolescent neurodevelopment, which in turn impacts future generations through effects on maternal and paternal nutritional status, cognition and parenting. However, little is known about typical adolescent neurodevelopment in low- and middle-income countries, where 90% of the world’s adolescents live. They will recruit 40–60 post-pubertal adolescents in Accra, Ghana, measure their corticolimbic system development over nine months, and assess their problem-solving, planning and cognitive functioning. In another cohort of 40–60 post-pubertal adolescents, they will measure adherence to an eight-month twice-daily micronutrient supplementation program and associated nutritional outcomes.