The development of children nutrition science in Russia

The article presents the main directions of children nutrition science in Russia, that starts at the Institute of Nutrition (nowadays Federal Research Centre of Nutrition, Biotechnology and Food Safety). Almost all areas of children nutrition - from early age to adulthood, from the organization of public nutrition to personalized approaches - were developed on the base of the Department of Children Nutrition, founded in 1932. Years of beneficial work of famous Russian specialists in the field of pediatric dietetics and nutrition science are associated with this Department, for instance professors E.M. Fateeva, K.S. Ladodo, I.Ya. Kon and their followers. The priority role of the Department of Children Nutrition in different areas of nutrition science is also shown in the article, for example in the development and improvement of physiological needs in nutrients and energy for children, pregnant and nursing women; development of new specialized infant foods, including first Russian formulas. Perinatal nutrition science, fundamental research on the composition of breast milk, creation of the system supporting breastfeeding, and design of dietary approaches to the correction of alimentary-dependent diseases were developed. The research on the effects of the hormonal composition of breast milk on the growth rate of infants who are breastfed has attracted the interest of the world scientific community. In recent years, fundamentally new scientific directions have been formed, based on the theory of "food programming", and nutrigenetic research has been developed. An important impetus in the development of modern pediatric nutritional science is the introduction of new approaches based on the achievements of nutritional metabolomics, nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics, digital technologies, and innovations in the field of food production. Nowadays children's nutrition in our country has confidently developed into an independent scientific direction, its main sections have been clearly identified: prenatal nutrition; infant and toddler nutrition; nutrition of preschool and school-age children; epidemiology of child nutrition; technologies for the production of infant and baby food and its safety.