Teens: Good Nutrition : Part 2

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

(Page 2 of 2)

What About Vegetarians?

There are many types of vegetarian diets, but the two most common are the lacto-ovo, which includes eggs and milk products but not meat, and vegan, which eliminates all forms of animal products. Teens who are lacto-ovo vegetarians can usually get enough nutrients in their diets.

Vegan vegetarians are vulnerable to deficiencies of several nutrients, particularly vitamins D and B-12, calcium, iron, zinc, and perhaps other trace elements. Like all essential nutrients, these vitamins and minerals are required to maintain proper growth.

If it is important to you to be a vegetarian, it is easier to achieve good nutrition with the lacto-ovo form. A dietitian (or your school nurse) can help you plan a vegetarian diet that provides you with the nutrients you need for growth and development during the teen years.

Iron and Calcium

The need for iron for both boys and girls increases between the ages of 11 and 18. The National Academy of Sciences recommends teenage boys get 12 milligrams of iron a day, mostly to sustain their rapidly enlarging body mass. For girls, the recommended daily requirement is 15 milligrams to offset menstrual losses that begin during this time.

It's important to plan how to get adequate iron in your diet. Iron from meat, poultry and fish is better absorbed by your body than the iron from plant sources. However, the absorption of iron from plants is improved by eating fruit or drinking juice that contains vitamin C with the iron-rich food.

Teens need extra calcium to store up an optimal amount of bone (called "peak" bone mass). The richest sources of calcium are milk and other dairy products. Building optimal bone mass through a balanced diet, including adequate calcium, may help delay the onset or limit your chances of developing osteoporosis later in life. Osteoporosis is a disease in which reduced bone mass causes bones to break easily. It occurs in both men and women, but is more common among older women.

What's a Healthy Weight?

Some teens have a difficult time projecting a healthy weight for themselves. Girls especially may think they need to be thinner than they are, or should be. Extraordinary concern or obsession for thinness leads some teens to the eating disorders of anorexia nervosa (dieting to starvation) or bulimia (overeating and then vomiting). (See "On the Teen Scene: Eating Disorders Require Medical Attention" in the March 1992 FDA Consumer.)

If you're concerned about your weight, it's important to talk to a health professional such as your family doctor or the school nurse. That person can help you decide whether you do need to lose weight and, if so, the best way to achieve and maintain a weight that is healthy for you.

If health professionals recommend that you need to lose weight, most experts say it's best to increase your exercise as the first step. Often that's all teens need to do for weight control because they're rapidly growing. If eating less is also necessary, it is best to continue eating a variety of foods while cutting down on fats and sugars.

Losing weight quickly on a very-low-calorie diet is never a good idea for anyone. And if you're into sports, you should be aware that it could affect your athletic performance. Under no circumstances should you drink less fluid to lose weight. A steady loss of a pound or so a week until you reach your goal is generally safe, and you're more likely to be able to maintain your weight loss.

Skipping meals to lose weight is another poor idea. You're likely to overeat at the next meal just because you're so hungry. And surveys show that people who skip breakfast or other meals tend to have poorer nutrition than those who don't.

Help for Healthy Eating

The food label can help nutrition-conscious people make wise food choices. This can be important to teens who sometimes shop not only for themselves but also for the whole family.

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, enforced by FDA, requires almost all food products to be labeled with the nutritive values they contain per serving. Serving sizes now are more uniform across all product lines, so that you can more easily compare the nutritional values of similar foods; for example, ice cream and frozen yogurt. And the serving sizes are closer to amounts people really eat.

Also, the government has set strict definitions for claims like "low fat" and "light," so when you see them, you can believe them.

FDA now allows food labels to carry claims about the relationship between a food or nutrient and a disease or health-related condition; for example, calcium and a reduced risk of osteoporosis, a bone disease; and sodium and an increased risk of high blood pressure. So far, FDA has approved 10 claims, which are supported by significant scientific evidence.

Thanks to the growing scientific knowledge about diet and health relationships, healthy eating is more socially "in" than ever before. Eating a healthy diet is not difficult with knowledge of a few of the basics and can help you excel on the playing field, in school and in your social life.

About the Author

www.fda.gov
FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.