Material and methods. We examined 89 students of 12-16 years of school in Sumy, Ukraine in order to determine the nutritional status of adolescents and conduct a hygienic assessment. To assess the nutritional status of adolescents we developed a questionnaire. It included the parental consent of the student; a passport part; a part to be filled in by a health worker or parents; a part to be filled by parents with children. Nutritional status was determined according to body mass index. The result was divided into three levels according to the norm. Results and discussion. We determined the optimal nutritional status of adolescents (72.41%) which indicated the optimal health status of adolescents. Disruption of nutritional status was characterized by manifestations of reduced (9.2%) and increased (18.39%) levels. Boys had an increased nutritional status (20.93±4.31%, t = 4.04, p≤0.00). In adolescents of 13, 16 years, eating disorders were in the form of increased nutritional status, which requires quality control of the diet and optimization of motor activity. The number of meals was 2 times a day (26.44±4.67%), 3 times (34.48±5.03%) and 4 times (25.29±4.61%). An analysis of adolescents' consumption of the main food groups indicated that meat and seafood were consumed every day (74.71%, t=4.6, p≤0.001) – from 1 (40.23±5.19%) to 2-3 times a week (33.33±4.99%); dairy products were eaten every day (55.17%, t = 2.5, p≤0.05); vegetables were eaten every day (55.17, t = 3.03, p≤0.01); potatoes and pasta wereeaten every day (43.68%, t = 5.4, p≤0.001; 52.87%, t = 7.74, p≤0.001, respectively) or 2-3 times a week (43.68%, t = 5.4, p≤0.001; 40.23% t = 5.59, p≤0.001, respectively); fruits and sweets were eaten every day (63.22%, t=4, p≤0.01; 79.31, t = 9.94, p≤0.001, respectively). Hygienic assessment of nutritional status was carried out depending on the amount of food intake and products. Adolescents with optimal nutritional status were predominantly fed three (39.68±5.18%) or four (26.98±26.98%) times daily. Adolescents with reduced nutritional status ate twice daily (50±5.29%, t=5.9, p≤0.001). Adolescents with high nutritional status did not find a difference between different amounts of food intake. Conclusion. The established features testified to a rational diet in children with optimal nutritional status and an irrational regimen with reduced nutritional status. Depending on the consumption of food groups by adolescents, the benefit of consuming them daily or 2-3 times a week regardless of the level of nutritional status was established, which was hygienically rational. The prospect of further research is: 1) in improvement of the developed questionnaire with the obligatory inclusion of the assessment of the following parameters: type of constitution, measurement of the subcutaneous fat layer; 2) to carry out an assessment of nutritional behavior in adolescents for a comprehensive assessment of nutrition; 3) to develop a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of teaching balanced nutrition to students in secondary schools.
Keywords: nutritional status, diet, body mass index, adolescents
Full text: PDF (Ukr) 205K