Characteristics of Antioxidant Status and Factors Responsible for Its Formation in Urban and Rural Schoolchildren

Modern children aged from 12 to 17 years often have various health problems [1]. One of the main factors leading to aggravation is nutrition [2]. Primarily, nutrition can influence the parameters of antioxidant status of the child organism [3]. The aim of the study was to investigate the antioxidant status of urban and rural schoolchildren, and their actual nutrition. Antioxidant status was analyzed studying the intensity of free radical oxidation and the power of antioxidant systems using the chemiluminescence method; the content of vitamins A, E in schoolchildren biological media, using the fluorometry method, the content of vitamin C, using the visual titration method. Actual nutrition was evaluated by means of daily nutrition reproduction, using the specially developed questionnaire (Martinchik A.N. et al., 1996) and determining biological value of a diet with the help of food composition table. The received data testifies to the tendency of antioxidant status shift to the oxidative stress and the inefficiency of antioxidant nutritional support because of vitamins A, E, ascorbic acid, copper, chromium, ferrum deficiency. That is why it is necessary to correct redox equilibrium parameters developing methodological and organizational approaches to the optimization of urban and rural schoolchildren nutritional status.