Problematic issues of formation of a healthy food culture of the population

Introduction. The foundations for preserving and strengthening the health of the working-age population are laid in childhood, including by stimulating behaviour aimed at developing healthy eating habits.

Materials and methods. To assess the level of awareness of the working population and school-age children on healthy nutrition issues, a survey was conducted among three hundred seventy four employees of three industrial enterprises and 532 schoolchildren aged of 7–17 years.

Results. 25.3% of employees of industrial enterprises consider their food healthy, only 31.4% of employees visit the canteen of their enterprise every day. An analysis of the frequency of consumption of products classified as restricted consumption, which should be minimized or excluded from the daily diet of a person committed to a healthy diet showed that processed meat products (smoked meats, sausages) were consumed daily by more than 70% of children and adolescents and 57.5% of adults. Sugary carbonated drinks and / or more than 10 tablespoons of sugar daily were included in the diet in more than 50% of 7–11 years children, as they grow older, the frequency of consumption decreases almost by 2 times (adolescents aged of 15–17 years – 27.6%, adults – 26.2%). Almost a third of children aged of 7–11 years (31.3%) often consumed fast food products, by the age of 15–17, the share of fast food consumers decreases to 10%.

Limitations. They are associated with an uneven sample of respondents by gender, a significant predominance of men’s opinions, which makes it difficult to compare between enterprises and the results of the survey of children.

Conclusion. The conducted analysis indicates a lack of awareness of both schoolchildren and employees of industrial enterprises in matters of healthy nutrition.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov (extract from the protocol dated April 3, 2024 No. 4).

Contributions:
Meltser A.V. – the concept and design of the study, text, editing, final approval of the article;
Iakubova I.Sh. – the concept and design of the study, the choice of analytical methods, text, editing;
Suvorova A.V. – the concept and design of the study, the choice of analytical methods, text, editing, statistical analysis;
Erastova N.V. – literature review, data collection and processing, analysis of the results, text, editing, final approval of the article;
Volochkova A.I. – literature review, database formation, analysis of the results.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: October 29, 2024 / Accepted: March 26, 2025 / Published: April 30, 2025

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