Nutrition

Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Adolescence

Adolescence brings its own set of nutritional needs and challenges. Beginning with the preteen years, children undergo their most intensive period of physical growth since infancy and need more food than at any other stage of life, particularly if they participate in sports.

Teenagers--especially teenage boys--are notorious for being able to empty the refrigerator of food, usually without gaining excess weight. Early adolescence in particular is a time of increased nutritional requirements for girls, who experience their greatest growth spurt at this time and also begin menstruating. It is difficult for weight-conscious teenage girls to eat enough to satisfy their minimum daily iron requirement of 18 milligrams, and they should try to eat either foods that are naturally rich in iron, such as turkey, beef, liver, and beans, or foods made from iron-enriched cereals. Adequate calcium intake is essential for the rapidly growing bones of teenagers, but milk has often been replaced by soft drinks as the beverage of choice among this age group. Parents should encourage adolescents--especially adolescent girls--to eat other foods rich in calcium, such as cheese, salmon, and broccoli.

As adolescents grow more independent, the number of meals and snacks eaten away from home increases as they spend more and more time with friends and take increased responsibility for arranging their own meals (with fast foods, soft drinks, and sweets often prominent on the menu). In addition to the natural appeal of these foods, peer pressure contributes to the choice of a diet soft drink over milk or juice, or pizza over broccoli. Although parents can't control the eating habits of their teenagers, they can influence them by consistently making nutritious foods available at home and, at least in some cases, by discussing the benefits of good nutrition with them, especially if a relative or friend has had an illness, such as heart disease or colon cancer , that has known links to diet.

Food allergies

A special problem that may affect childhood nutrition is the presence of food allergies, which are more common in children than in adults. They are most likely to begin when a child is very young and the immune system is still sensitive--most begin in infancy. Food allergies also tend to run in families: if one parent has food allergies, a child has a 40% likelihood of developing one. This figure rises to 75% if both parents have allergic sensitivities to food. Common symptoms of food allergies include hives, rashes, swelling of the eyes, lips, and mouth, respiratory symptoms, and digestive problems. Foods that most often produce allergic reactions in infants are cow's milk, soy products, and citrus fruits. Other common childhood allergens include wheat, nuts, chocolate, strawberries, tomatoes, corn, and seafood. A widely used method for detecting food allergies is to temporarily place children on diets free of known allergy-causing foods and then add one "suspect" food at a time for a week or so and observe the reaction. Once the causes of food allergies are known, the best treatment method is to remove those foods from the child's diet. If the causes of a food allergy cannot be determined, antihistamines can be used to reduce the symptoms of allergic reactions. In time, childhood food allergies are often outgrown.