Researches in regards of the ”Alpha” generation nutrition

Abstract

The Alpha generation is the one of children born after 2010, and the last born of this generation will be at the end of 2025. Investigations show that their number will reach 2 billion people and it shows this generation will be the most educated, the most dynamic and the richest. The Alpha generation will have a strong influence among the society, but the children in this category suffer from a number of diseases caused by poor nutrition, such as obesity, diabetes, malnutrition and food intolerances and this is the generation that consumes excessive fast food. -unhealthy sweets and soft drinks. An adequate eating behavior during the childhood prevents or delays the onset in adulthood of diseases such as coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, some forms of cancer, etc. Nutrition possesses the both: physical and mental impact on the health status of children and adolescents. A proper nutrition helps to prevent the onset and development of some nutritional disorders such as iron deficiency and anemia, vitamin D deficiency and rickets, intestinal transit disorders, malnutrition, tooth decay. Based on the role and the importance of nutrition on the health state of children, we aimed to analyze how students are fed in the Republic of Moldova schools, compared to the same category of children from other countries, more economically developed, from the perspective of recommendations of the WHO. The menus offered by two school canteens in the Republic of Moldova, one from the private educational institution and one from the municipal institution, served as an object of study for the research. For this research were used methods such as: quantitative-qualitative analysis, comparative analysis and technological calculations. During the research eere performed comparative calculations of lunches offered to students in schools in the Republic of Moldova, Italy, Japan and the USA. For comparison, were selected Italy and Japan - countries with the lowest infant mortality rate in the world and the lowest number of children with diabetes, obesity, thyroid disease and other diseases which are highly dependent on diet, and the United States - with many state programs that support education and school nutrition, but at the same time a country with a large number of obese people. The results of our research confirm that Italy has the best organized food system in schools, the menus offered to students in the US schools don’t meet the recommended norms on calcium and phosphorus content, and the energy value exceeds the norm, which could be a factor that explains the high rate of obesity among the American children. The student lunches from the Republic of Moldova correspond practically with all the positions with those of Japan, with some deviations from the WHO recommendations, and the problem of diseases among the students from our country, results largely not only from the quality of school menus, but also because of the outside school nutrition, as well as other causes, such as poverty that generates malnutrition, excessive consumption of fast food that is sold near schools, poor water quality, environmental ecology and as well due to the unhealthy eating habits in the family. JEL: L83, Q 18.