Journal of Biological and Sustainability Sciences BIOSUSS Publishing dietary-habits-and-nutritional-status-of-school-aged-children-6-12-years-a-school-based-cross-sectional-study-from-sialkot-pakistan 10.5281/zenodo.23824057 Research Article Dietary Habits and Nutritional Status of School-Aged Children (6–12 Years): A School-Based Cross-Sectional Study from Sialkot, Pakistan Sabeen AsgharAniq Ur RehmanSabila Ali Department of Food, Nutrition and Agricultural Sciences, Grand Asian University, Sialkot, 7 KM Pasrur Road Sialkot, Pakistan sabilaali720@gmail.com Aniq Ur Rehman, Email; aniq.rehman@gaus.edu.pk 31102026 081020262610202628102026 2 1 30 36 Copyright © 2026 the authors This article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain copyright. School-age childrendietary habitsbody mass indexmalnutritionphysical activityPakistan funding-statementThis research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.conflict-of-interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest.ethics-approvalThe study was conducted in accordance with applicable institutional ethical guidelines. Ethical approval was obtained from the relevant institutional ethics committee of Grand Asian University, Sialkot, Pakistan (Approval Reference No. ref-1955-gaus-3950fnas), prior to data collection. Permission was obtained from the participating school administrations, and written informed consent was secured from parents or legal guardians, together with age-appropriate assent from the participating children. Participant confidentiality was maintained throughout the study.informed-consentWritten informed consent was obtained from the parents or legal guardians of all children participating in the study. Age-appropriate assent was also obtained from each participating child before data collection. Participation was voluntary, and the confidentiality of participants' personal information was maintained throughout the study.data-availabilityThe datasets generated and analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.author-contributionsSabeen Asghar designed the study, collected and analyzed the data, and drafted the manuscript. A.U.R. and Sabila Ali supervised the research, contributed to the study design and critically reviewed the manuscript and working in the final draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.ai-use-disclosureChatGPT (OpenAI) was used to assist with language editing, grammatical refinement, preparation of declaration statements, and reference formatting. The authors retain full responsibility for verifying the accuracy, scientific integrity, originality, and final content of the manuscript.