The aim of this study was to assess bone health in individuals over 60 years of age in Kazakhstan, focusing on the relationship between osteoporosis, body mass index (BMI), body composition, and nutritional factors. This study included 1961 participants, consisting of 1620 women and 341 men, aged 60 to 89. Bone strength was assessed using quantitative ultrasound of the calcaneus, while fracture risk was assessed with the FRAX tool. Osteoporosis was detected in 20.2% of women and 15.2% of men, and osteopenia affected 59.8% of women and 58.4% of men. A total of 73.7% of the participants were overweight, 38.2% were pre-obese, and 35.5% were obese. The results of the study emphasise that, in addition to classic nutrients (calcium, vitamin D, protein), a number of trace elements and vitamins (selenium, iodine, zinc, vitamin B6, phytosterols) also play a significant, possibly indirect, role in bone metabolism. An inverse correlation was observed between BMI and osteoporosis prevalence; with a decrease in BMI, the incidence of osteoporosis increased (women: χ² = 26.0, df = 2, p < 0.001; men: χ² = 4.29, df = 2, p < 0.014; total sample: χ² = 32.3, df = 2, p < 0.001), thus confirming that excess body fat exerts a protective effect on bone health. Significant risk factors for osteoporosis included age, height, and weight. A link was found between the age of first osteoporosis onset and BMI (from 65 to 72.14 years). This confirms the value of FRAX for accurately assessing fracture risk and developing personalised recommendations based on anthropometric and dietary characteristics. Future longitudinal research is warranted to validate these results and further elucidate the underlying mechanisms, including the predictive power of novel anthropometric parameters such as the Body Roundness Index and Body Shape Index.

Ensuring the population with adequate nutrition in terms of composition and volume remains one of the unsolved global problems. The purpose of the study: To conduct a study of the nutritional status of students.Methods. The study involved 1,533 students of higher educational institutions in Astana aged 18-20 years, including 812 girls and 721 boys. To assess the nutritional status, the 24-hour food reproduction method was used, adapted to take into account regional dietary characteristics.Results. The study of the nutritional status of students revealed significant deviations in the structure of students' nutrition, reflecting both a deficiency of critically important micronutrients and excessive consumption of individual macronutrients.Conclusions. This study emphasizes the critical role of rational nutrition in maintaining the health of student youth. The identified imbalances require an integrated approach that combines the efforts of health workers, teachers. The results of the work can be used to develop national programs to improve the health of students and form a culture of healthy eating in Kazakhstan.Key words: nutritional status, students, macronutrients, micronutrients, healthy eating.

Background: Physical activity is a key modifiable factor influencing healthy aging, yet data on activity patterns and their physiological correlates in older adults from Central Asia remain limited. Understanding these relationships is essential for informing region-specific health promotion strategies. Objectives: This study assessed physical activity levels among urban-dwelling older adults in Astana, Kazakhstan, and examined associations between activity level, body composition, visceral fat accumulation, metabolic indicators, and muscle strength. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 608 adults aged ≥60 years (median age: 68 years; 82.1% women). Physical activity was measured using the validated Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE). Anthropometric and body composition indicators, including BMI, total and visceral fat, skeletal muscle mass, and handgrip strength, were evaluated. Spearman correlation and linear regression analyses were applied. The analyses were exploratory and did not include adjustment for potential confounders such as sex, chronic disease burden, or socioeconomic status; therefore, the observed associations should be interpreted with caution. Results: The median PASE score was 55.55, with 61.8% of participants demonstrating moderate activity levels, primarily through walking and household tasks. In analyses without adjustment for potential confounding factors, PASE scores showed weak inverse associations with visceral fat (ρ = −0.214; p < 0.001) and waist-to-hip ratio (ρ = −0.154; p < 0.001), as well as weak positive associations with handgrip strength. Across the reported significant associations, correlation coefficients ranged from |ρ| = 0.103 to 0.235, and the explanatory capacity of the regression models was low, with R² values ranging from 0.6% to 8.2%. Conclusions: Higher habitual physical activity may be linked to selected bioelectrical impedance parameters, WHR, and handgrip strength among urban older adults. Given the cross-sectional design, causal interpretation should be approached with caution. These findings provide meaningful regional baseline evidence for future longitudinal and intervention studies on physical activity and healthy aging in Central Asia.

Older adults in residential care are usually described as a group at high risk of undernutrition, yet data on the nutritional and cardiometabolic status of institutionalised older adults in Central Asia are scarce. We aimed to characterise the anthropometric, dietary and biochemical profile of older residents of a state social-care institution in Kazakhstan and to examine whether overnutrition, micronutrient inadequacy and cardiometabolic risk coexist. In this cross-sectional study, 62 adults aged 60 years and over from the “Sharapat” centre in Astana underwent anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance body-composition analysis, blood-pressure measurement, dietary assessment (specialized nutrition questionnaires, a 24-hour dietary recall and food diaries) with calculation of nutrient intakes, and venous blood and urine testing; serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and trace elements were measured in 29 participants. Laboratory analyses and data processing were performed at the Research Institute of Preventive Medicine named after E.D. Dalenov, Astana Medical University. The sample (61.3% men; mean age 74.0 years) showed a high cardiometabolic burden, with arterial hypertension in 63%, total cholesterol of at least 5.0 mmol/L in 60%, LDL-cholesterol of at least 3.0 mmol/L in 71%, and overweight or obesity in 58%, whereas only 5% were underweight. Habitual diets were high in sodium (71% above 2000 mg/day) and low in potassium (92% below 3500 mg/day), calcium (85% below 1000 mg/day) and fibre (90% below 25 g/day). Among those tested, 79% had vitamin D deficiency, and overweight or obesity coexisted with vitamin D deficiency in 16 of 29 participants. None of 56 exploratory diet-risk correlations survived correction for multiple testing. Rather than the undernutrition typical of residential care, these residents displayed a double burden of malnutrition-excess adiposity and cardiometabolic risk alongside micronutrient-poor diets and widespread vitamin D deficiency-identifying concrete targets for institutional catering, supplementation and cardiometabolic screening.