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The impression is sometimes gained that all teenagers are poorly nourished and always eat great quantities of empty-calorie snacks. In fact, many teenagers have good food habits, are well nourished, and might serve as good examples for others in their age group who need to improve their food habits. Perhaps we have not sufficiently appealed to the teenager himself in terms of his needs for better nutrition. Girls express a particular need for a good figure, a healthy skin, and beautiful hair. They need to understand the patterns of normal maturing of the body so that they do not indulge in bizarre reducing diets. Although a good diet is essential to a healthy skin, they also need to understand that skin problems arise when rapid changes in hormone production are taking place.

Boys are more likely to be interested in tall stature, muscular development, and athletic vigor and stamina. They too have skin problems about which they are concerned. The large appetite of boys helps to ensure an increased intake of needed nutrients along with the foods that are supplying calories.

The diets of boys and girls most frequently fail to meet the recommended allowances for calcium, vitamin A, and ascorbic acid. In addition, girls often do not get enough iron.

Of the food groups, milk requires special emphasis because of the great calcium need. If dark green leafy and deep yellow vegetables and citrus fruits were more adequately consumed, the vitamin A and ascorbic acid intakes would be substantially improved.

Among the particular problems during adolescence are these:

1.   Skipped meals. Many high school students keep late hours, get up too late in the morning to eat breakfast, eat a hurried lunch at school, and never quite make up during the rest of the day for their nutritional requirements.

2.   Overweight. The pattern of overweight is often set in earlier childhood through a continuing excessive food intake. Active participation in sports rather than watching others engage in sports is important. Weight control should begin in childhood and during adolescence and not be delayed to middle age.

3.   Snacks. Boys and girls, as a rule, need some snacks, but their selection should be substantially from the Four Food Groups. A correlation has been established between the excessive intake of sweets, especially those that are sticky, and the amount of tooth decay. This is not to say that any foods are altogether forbidden. Rather, if there is an adequate intake of foods from the Four Food Groups the amounts of empty-calorie foods to satisfy the appetite will be correspondingly reduced.

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GENERAL HEALTH