ABSTRACT

The study includes a survey of literature reports from the last 15 years on the consumption of food and nutritional status of preschool and school children. The nutritional status of preschool and school children suggested many shortcomings independent of social class and nutrition type (indyvidual, mass nutrition). Generally, the nutrition of town children was better than that of rural children, and signs of deficiency of certain vitamins and mineral components were found in a lowe per cent of the former children. The food rations of the studied children contained too low consumption of milk and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, with high intake of fats, meat and its products, sugar and sweets. The daily food rations contained low amounts of calcium, vitamins A, В and C, with excess of phosphorus and fats. The nutrition of school children depended on year season, social class and education of parents. The most frequent faults included inappropriate timetable of meals, their poor quality, inadequate number and monotony. No such data could be obtained with respect to preschool children. The nutritional status of preschool and school children gives rise to objections, especially in the case of rural areas. There is a need to evolve and introduce a standardized study method for the assessment of nutrition and nutritional status of preschool and school children and continuous monitoring in this respect.