Production of Fortified Biscuit With Chickpea and Crushed Peanut for Improving Cognitive Performance

It is well known that globally, school-based fortification and school feeding approaches have been applied to remedy nutritional deficiencies that impact health in the primary school age group. Aim of the study: to produce a fortified biscuit with chickpea and crushed peanut. To evaluate the effectiveness of the fortified biscuits intake for 4 months in terms of its acceptability and impact on cognitive performance for a sample of children aged 8-12 years attending rural primary schools in an Egyptian village. The fortified biscuits' effect on auditory attention, visual and working memory, and learning ability was evaluated. Methodology: This study was an interventional study conducted in two stages: stage one was the production of nutritious biscuits that is based on chickpea flour and peanut in addition to whole wheat (extract 72 %), wheat germ, cinnamon, milk, and egg. All these constituents help in enhancing immunity, fighting viruses, maintaining regular and healthy bowel movement, regulating blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and more importantly improving the cognitive abilities of school-aged children. During stage two, eighty Children were randomly allocated in either chickpea and peanuts biscuits dependent group (40 children) or non-dependent group (40 children) to evaluate the impact of the fortified biscuits. All enrolled children and their mothers received 5 cognitive stimulation sessions over four months. The cognitive performance of primary school-aged children was assessed before and after the interventions by a battery of four verbal \& non-verbal intelligence psychological tests. These tests covered short-term and working memory, visual memory, and the ability for categorization, learning for speed of information processing, and auditory attention ability with rising levels of difficulty. These tests were: Digit Span, the figural memory tests, Coding and Auditory vigilance tests A and B respectively. Five items were used to evaluate the physical