Comparative characteristics of the actual nutrition of younger schoolchildren with different indices of nutritional status

Abstract

Introduction. Nutrition is one of the most critical factors determining the health status of children and adolescents. Violation of the nutritional status in excess body weight hurts the state of physical development of children. Malnutrition in childhood in childhood is a risk factor for the development of alimentary-dependent diseases, which determined the relevance of this study-the study of the structure of the actual nutrition of younger schoolchildren with various indicators of nutritional status to develop recommendations for optimizing the diet. Material and methods. The essential nutrition was studied in 80 younger schoolchildren of public educational institutions of Smolensk at the age of 9.5-10.5 years. To determine the nutritional status of schoolchildren, we used the standards of the World Health Organization (2007). Actual nutrition was studied using the 24-hour nutritional reproduction method. The composition of the body of children was investigated by the bioimpedance method using the AVS-02 Medass analyzer. Results. In the structure of nutrition of primary schoolchildren, regardless of the nutritional status of children, there is a deficit in the consumption of many essential products of the children’s diet (milk and dairy products, fish, vegetables, and fruits). In the diets of schoolchildren with excessive nutritional status, an excess of products with high energy value (confectionery and pasta, sugar) was revealed. In the intake of essential nutrients, there was noted an imbalance associated with excessive consumption of fats and carbohydrates, along with a lack of dietary fibers, a number of minerals (calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, iodine), and vitamins (C, B1, B2, A, E, biotin). Conclusion. Comparative analysis of the actual nutrition in primary schoolchildren identified disorders and structure of food packages’ imbalance composition, most pronounced in children with excessive nutritional status. The performed correlation analysis confirmed the existence of a reliable relationship between nutritional status indices, anthropometric indices, and parameters of the body composition of the examined children.