Results of chemical analysis of food products and meals provided by school lunch program in secondary schools / Монголын Анагаах Ухаан

ABSTRACT

Introduction In recent years it has been observed epidemiological transition in the world population’s morbidity and mortality causes, indicating a shift from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases. In 2012, cardiovascular diseases alone accounts for 30 per cent of all deaths in the world. In Mongolia, non-communicable diseases are growing steadily and becoming the leading causes of morbidity and mortality of population. According to the Global School-based Student Health Survey-Mongolia 2010, overall, 19.3 per cent of school children had 4 or more nutritional risk factors of NCD and 8,3 per cent of students were overweight and 0,8 per cent were obese. Above mentioned study shows that, the prevention of NCD should be started from childhood, improving the consumption of fruits and vegetables for school snack and lunch is important in the prevention of NCD among school children. The study is aimed at determination of types, consumption and chemical composition of food products and meals provided in school snack program. Scope and methods of investigation The investigation was performed in Ulaanbaatar and Tuv aimag. Under the our investigation included a totally 14 school canteens of Ulaanbaatar and Tuv aimag. Consumption of Food products was investigated using the Food Consumption Questionnaire method. All managers of school canteens interviewed by well-trained researchers using the time from 20 to 30 min for each of them. Food samples were obtained, keeping in cool boxes, transported to the Public Health Central Laboratory of National Center of Public Health, Mongolia. Chemical composition of food and snack samples were investigated according to the related standard methods for determination of protein, fat, carbohydrates, Vitamin C, Calcium. Results Consumption of vegetables and local fruits for school snack and meal was not enough for prevention of NCD among school children. Use of milk and milk products for school snacks and lunch were obtained only 1-3 times during the 10 days, which is too poor consumption. According to the results of chemical analysis, 83.4 per cent of all food samples had calories less than 340 kcal, which is the required value of calories of school snack per one student. With regard to protein level 50 per cent of samples had 2.57-7.7grams of protein, which is lower than the recommended level of 10-12 gr. Fat level of samples were ranged between 7.2-1.97 grams and 95.5 per cent of samples had lower fat content compared to the recommended value of 9.0 grams. When 68.7 per cent of samples had 4.5-38.03 grams of carbohydrates, which is lower than the recommended amount, some 4.5 per cent of samples had higher carbohydrates compared to the recommendation. Amount of vitamin C in school snack was extremely lower than the recommended amount that vitamin C was found between 0.02-2.31mg, satisfying only 10 per cent of the national recommendation of vitamin C amount for school snack. Amount of Calcium in milk products of school snack and meals was also low than recommended level.