What is the Accra urban adolescent nutrition study? (3News)

3News (Ghana) published an article stating that optimal health and nutrition during adolescence can have lasting impacts on the adolescent, and even generations after them. This is particularly important for adolescent girls who have a high risk of transmitting malnutrition and poor health to their children, and grandchildren, and thereby perpetuate a vicious cycle of malnutrition and poor health outcomes. The University of Ghana and IFPRI have teamed up to implement the Accra Urban Adolescent Nutrition Study. The study is being implemented to understand the nutrition status of about one thousand adolescents in 10 randomly selected neighborhoods between ages 12 and 19 years. The study has four main components: household food security and adolescent diet (including eating patterns and amounts), physical activity and the opportunities for physical activity, biomarkers of malnutrition using laboratory indicators, and description of food environments (to determine what situations and vendors in and around the school are driving what children are eating when they are in school).