Parental perceptions of healthy eating often diverge from children’s actual diets, but this gap is poorly documented in Central Asia. We examined how parents’ priorities for key food groups relate to nutrient intakes in 390 urban children aged 1–6 years in Central Kazakhstan. In a cross-sectional study, parents completed a 24 h multiple-pass dietary recall and rated the importance of fats and sweets, meat and fish, dairy, vegetables and fruits, and bread and potatoes on 5-point scales. Nutrient intakes were calculated using software, compared with national DRIs, and analyzed using rank-based tests and Spearman correlations. Parents reported near-ceiling priority for restricting fats and sweets and consistently high priority for bread and potatoes, whereas vegetables, fruits, meat/fish, and dairy were rated moderately important, with dairy under-prioritized in 1–2-year-olds. On the recalled day, median intakes of fat, dietary fiber, vitamin C, and calcium were below national recommendations at all ages, and median intakes of iron, thiamine, and niacin were particularly low at 3–4 years, while sodium intake exceeded recommended levels; the 3–4-year group showed the most pronounced clustering of shortfalls. Prevalence estimates indicated that most children had intakes below recommendations for dietary fiber and calcium and above recommendations for sodium, underscoring population-wide nutritional imbalance. Across all scales, parental priorities showed only weak, non-significant associations with nutrient intakes (|r| < 0.11). These findings indicate a perception–intake gap and support interventions that ensure adequate fats, fiber, vitamin C, calcium, and bioavailable iron in preschool diets.

Background/Objectives: Pediatric aseptic meningitis remains diagnostically challenging because early manifestations may be incomplete, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings vary with disease stage, and etiologic confirmation is not always available. This study compared hospitalized children with PCR-confirmed enteroviral meningitis and meningitis of unidentified etiology, focusing on presentation timing, CSF patterns, and antibacterial therapy. Methods: This single-center retrospective observational study included 87 pediatric patients hospitalized with aseptic meningitis or meningoencephalitis. Patients were classified into a PCR-confirmed enteroviral group (EV+, n = 58) and an unidentified-etiology group (n = 29). Clinical characteristics, time from symptom onset to admission, meningeal signs, peripheral blood inflammatory markers, CSF parameters, associations among CSF variables, and antibacterial therapy were analyzed. Results: A marked summer pattern was observed, with 73 of 87 cases occurring from June to August. Most patients were admitted 2–5 days after symptom onset. Compared with the unidentified-etiology group, EV+ patients had lower body temperature, total leukocyte count, neutrophil percentage, and absolute neutrophil count, and a higher lymphocyte percentage. CSF cell count, protein, glucose, and chloride did not differ significantly between groups. In both groups, CSF cell count correlated positively with protein concentration. CSF glucose was unrelated to inflammatory CSF markers in the EV+ group but correlated negatively with CSF cell count and protein in the unidentified-etiology group. Antibacterial therapy was more frequent in the unidentified-etiology group. Conclusions: Combining clinical presentation, peripheral blood markers, CSF relationships, and molecular findings may improve diagnostic confidence and support more appropriate antibacterial treatment decisions in children with suspected aseptic meningitis.