Adolescent eating: habits, problems and disorders

Why adolescent diets matter. The adolescent growth spurt raises the need for energy and nutrients. Good eating now protects against chronic illnesses later, such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Studies show that teenagers often get too little vitamin A, thiamine, iron and calcium and too much fat, sugar and sodium. They need more fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grains alongside the energy-rich foods they usually choose.

Common eating habits of adolescents:

• Irregular and skipped meals, most often breakfast. Teenage girls skip meals more than boys, often trying to stay thin. But skipping meals usually makes you overeat later and harms attention and performance at school.
• Snacking: not bad in itself. For busy, growing teenagers, healthy snacks help keep up energy and nutrient intake. The problem is living on snacks alone, or on unhealthy ones.
• Fast food: convenient, social and fashionable, but usually high in fat, sodium and 'empty calories' (energy with few other nutrients) and low in calcium, vitamin A, riboflavin, folic acid and fibre unless milk or a fruit is added. Make smart choices even at a fast-food outlet.
• Dieting: many teenagers, especially girls bombarded by images of thinness, diet without guidance: skipping meals, fasting, binge eating, using laxatives or diet pills. Unsupervised dieting can lead to a cycle of weight loss and regain, eating disorders, low self-esteem and health risks.

Healthy habits:

• Three balanced meals and two nutritious snacks a day.
• Choose low-calorie snacks such as fresh fruit, sprouts, roasted chana or raw vegetables instead of chips and fried foods; keep favourite treats for once in a while.
• Drink water rather than soft drinks.
• Limit screen time to one or two hours a day.
• Keep a journal of food, screen time and exercise, and check your weight weekly.
• Exercise regularly: 20 to 30 minutes a day of cycling, games, brisk walking or climbing stairs instead of taking the lift.
• Avoid tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

Rural adolescents who do farm and household work need more energy and protein. Many poorer adolescents are malnourished, and anaemia (too little iron in the blood) is very common: the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3, 2005 to 2006) found about 56 per cent of adolescent girls and 30 per cent of boys anaemic. Iron-rich foods (green leafy vegetables, pulses, jaggery) and iron supplements help.

What shapes teenage eating?

• External factors: the family and its food habits and parenting; peers; social and cultural norms and values; mass media and advertising; easy access to ready-to-eat food; food fads; nutrition knowledge and personal experiences.
• Internal factors: physical needs; body image and self-concept; personal values and beliefs; food preferences; health and stage of development.

Eating disorders are serious and can be life-threatening:

• Anorexia nervosa: an intense fear of becoming fat and a distorted body image, so that a person who is already thin still sees herself or himself as fat and eats almost nothing. It often begins in early adolescence, when identity and body image are fragile.
• Bulimia: repeated binge eating (eating large amounts in one go) followed by purging, by vomiting or laxatives, to avoid weight gain. It is more common in late adolescence and early adulthood, and in females.
• Both can damage the heart, kidneys and teeth, delay menstruation and weaken bones (osteoporosis).

The best defence is to value and respect yourself as you are, to eat in a healthy, balanced way, and to seek help early from parents, teachers or a doctor if you or a friend show signs of disordered eating.