Hygienic assessment of environmental factors that cause insufficient provision with vitamins among pre-school children

An issue related to insufficient provision with vitamins among children in Russia requires profound examination, especially as regards reasons for it, as it will allow to work out targeted prevention measures. Our research goal was to perform hygienic assessment of environmental factors (organization of nutrition, chemical contamination of environmental objects) that influence provision of pre-school children with vitamins. We chose the following research objects: a typical pre-school children facility located in a large industrial center and 188 children aged 6-7 who attended it. We applied a set of sanitary-hygienic, laboratory, and mathematical techniques in our research. We assessed organization of nutrition in the facility; performed a comparative analysis of nutrition quality with calculation and individual weighting technique. We also examined concentrations of technogenic chemicals in the atmospheric air, the air inside the facility, and water supplied to the facility; determined their concentrations in children's blood; studied antioxidant protection system in children and a level of their provision with vitamins...