This study investigated the association between aerobic and muscular fitness with the cognitive control and academic performance of preadolescent Arab children. Ninety-three children aged 10–13 years (mean = 11.5, SD = 0.5) representing eight Arab nations (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, and Morocco) participated in this cross-sectional study. The participants completed tests for aerobic (progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance run) and muscular (maximum grip strength) fitness, and cognitive control (flanker task). We assessed their academic performance based on their overall grade point average (GPA). Our analyses revealed that greater aerobic fitness was associated with higher GPA scores and greater muscular fitness was associated with a shorter response time in a task condition requiring extensive cognitive control (incongruent condition). No association was found between aerobic fitness and flanker task performance nor between muscular fitness and GPA. These results bridge the knowledge gap on the associations of physical fitness to the cognitive control and academic performance of Arab children, suggesting that the positive associations found in Western and Asian literature can be generalized to the Arab context.

Over the last decades, the abandonment of traditional dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet, represents an important threat for human health and environmental safeguard. The DELICIOUS project aims to promote healthy lifestyles among children and adolescents by implementing activities and tools to increase the adherence to the Mediterranean Diet with an attention to the environmental impacts of the diet. This study protocol describes the DELICIOUS project as a single-arm, uncontrolled behavioural intervention providing formal and non-formal education activities, development of new snacks and recipe reformulation, web/mobile app development, and physical activities to school children and adolescents in five European countries. The project aims to increase awareness of the nutritional benefits and the sustainability aspects of the Mediterranean Diet and to promote consumers’ empowerment through an online platform for sustainable and healthy meal planning in the school canteen.

This study examined the association between grip strength and emotional working memory in middle-aged adults. Seventy-six males aged 40–60 years (mean = 48.5 years, SD = 5.4) participated in this cross-sectional study. They completed a muscular fitness assessment using a maximum grip strength test and emotional n-back tasks under two emotion conditions (fearful and neutral facial pictures) and two working memory loads (1-back and 2-back tasks). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that greater muscular fitness was associated with superior working memory performance in the fearful condition in both the 1-back and 2-back tasks, after controlling for confounders. Greater muscular fitness was also associated with superior working memory performance in the neutral condition when the working memory load was high (2-back task) but not low (1-back task). These findings suggest a positive association between muscular fitness and emotional working memory and highlight the importance of maintaining muscular fitness for physical and cognitive-emotional well-being in middle-aged adults.