Fat Content in Preschoolers’ Diet

Abstract

Introduction. It is healthy and balanced nutrition that determines human health from childhood, thus forming able-bodied, reproductive, intellectual, and vital potential of the country. Therefore, children’s diet should take into consideration the physiological needs of the growing organism for energy, macro and microelements, minor and biologically active substances. The research featured the diet of preschoolers. The paper describes an attempt to optimize the energy, nutritional value, and balance according to the physiological norms. Study objects and methods. The research involved preschoolers aged 3–7 from a local nursery boarding school (Ivanovo, Russia). Based on the analysis of the menu, the authors assessed its diet compliance with the daily physiological nutrition norms. The fat content of the daily ration was assessed, first, according to the absolute deviation from physiologically complete dietary fat. The index has a zero value for fat proper. The second index was the ratio of polyunsaturated linoleic and α-linolenic fatty acids, which should be 5–10:1. Results and discussion. The daily caloric intake exceeded the norm by 6 %. The diet lacked dietary fiber and was too rich in fat. As for the qualitative composition of the fat content, the children’s diet showed a significant deficit of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The authors proposed to partially replace sunflower oil with flaxseed, substitute the fatty filling in the waffles with fruit filling, slightly reduce the proportion of butter, and add encapsulated fish oil. Conclusion. Аs a result of the optimization, the fat content in the diet decreased by 12%; the ratio of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids ω-6 and ω-3 was 7.8:1, which corresponds to the standard parameters.