[Assessment of the North resident's nutrition supply with view of the content of macro- and microelements in food]

In order to study the body nutrition supply in 17-37 year-old Magadan residents, among them Europeans (control group, n = 200) and Indigenous Minorities of the North (IMN, n = 56), we examined hair samples of the subjects and ascertained the content of 25 essential minerals and trace elements using the method of atom-emission and mass spectrometry with the inductively bonded argon plasma. At the same time, these elements were detected un drinking water and in local food products including samples of muscles and milt (testes) of salmon (Salmoidae), fished out in the Okhotsk Sea near shore. When comparing the values of the examined male Europeans and subjects IMN, the latter demonstrated reliably higher Ca (373.37 mcg/g vs. 256.72 mcg/g), Mg (34.09 mcg/g vs. 24.89 mcg/g), P (184.30 mcg/g vs. 157.60 mcg/g), I (1.13 mcg/g vs. 0.50 mcg/g); in the examined females--Mg(56.66 mcg/g vs. 32.30 mcg/g) and P (181.35 mcg/g vs. 149.40 mcg/g). Besides, the IMN examinees, both males and females, demonstrated reliably lower Fe values in comparison with the control group. When comparing male and female subjects, we found the first ones to be reliably higher in As, Cr, K, Na, I, Cd and Li but lower in Ca, Co, Mg and Mn. The present study provides data on the content of minerals and trace elements in some food products, widely represented in food ration of the residents of Magadan town. Interspecies differences in the content of chemicals also conformed to the maximum permissible concentration approved for food products, but Co, Cu, Na and Zn values in Chum salmon proved to be reliably higher than those in Coho salmon. Fe levels being within 3.8-4.9 mcg/g were practically similar to fresh-water fish. The contents of K and P in the examined fish species were found as rather significant (3448-8879 mcg/g and 2795-3535 mcg/g, respectively).