ИСТИНА

“Hidden hunger” is the deficit of micronutrient in human food. Since micronutrients mainly originate from soils, their supply in food systems strongly depends on their concentration and availability in soils. We revised the existing literature to reproduce the chain of 10 microelements (B, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, I, Mo, Mn, Se and Zn) from parent rocks to soil, from soil to plants, from plants to animal meat, and finally from crops and meat to human body. We proposed an approach based on hypothetical concentration of microelements in food depending of dominant rocks and soils in particular areas, and tested it for two countries: Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia and Armenia in South Caucasus. The analysis was made basing on the existing data on the concentration of the elements under study in the most abundant rocks and soils in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. The preliminary assessment of the doses of the microelements received with food (considering the typical diet in the countries under study) showed that all the elements except I should be sufficient for humans. However, geoavailability and bioavailability of the elements, which are not sufficiently studied until now, might strongly affect the results. Recalculation of the doses using the most pessimistic bioavailability model resulted in the possible deficit of all the elements in both countries. Additional experimental studies are needed to assess the real deficiency in microelements in Central Asia and South Caucasus.