Bioimpedancemetry as a screening technology for assessing the adequacy of nutrition in students

Introduction. Bioimpedancemetry based on measuring the electrical conductivity of biological tissues appears to be a promising screening technology that allows timely detecting and correcting of alimentary status and deviations in the diet of students. The aim of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the bioimpedancemetry method as a screening technology for assessing the adequacy of students’ nutrition. Materials and methods. The assessment of actual nutrition in two hundred forty five students aged of 7–10 years (Group 1) and 222 students aged of 11–14 years (Group 2), was carried out using the 24-hour nutrition reproduction method; alimentary status based on the calculation of body mass index; body component composition using the bioimpedancemetry method. Results. The diet of students in the 1st group was established to be characterized by an increase in energy value by 17.9% due to an excess of fat by 28.6%, as well as a deficiency of a number of minerals (Ca, K, Na, Cl, Fe, Zn, Cu, Cr) and vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B9, B7, C, A), which ensured the formation of excess nutritional status in a third of students (40.7%), an increase in the proportion of fat mass in every second student (53.1%) and a decrease in lean mass in a fifth of those surveyed (20.4%). The diet of the students in the 2nd group was deficient in protein content by 38.5% for boys and 33.2% for girls, a number of macro- and microelements (Ca, K, Cu, Cr, Se), and vitamins (B5, B3, B7, B6, E,), which led to the formation of insufficient nutritional status in 30.5% of the subjects, an increase in the proportion of fat mass in 64.7% of students, as well as a decrease in lean mass in 14.7% of students and active cell mass in 63.2% of students. Limitations. The results of the study can be extrapolated only to a sample of primary and secondary school students. Conclusion. Thus, the obtained data indicate the use of bioimpedance analysis based on the assessment of the component composition of the body, including the ratio of fat, muscle and active cell mass, the level of metabolic activity, to be potent of becoming the foundation for the development of personalized recommendations for the correction of the actual diet of students, and will improve the effectiveness of the prevention and correction of alimentary-dependent disorders, adapting the diet to the physiological and metabolic characteristics in each student.