Healthy Eating in Adolescence: Best Fight Against Malnutrition

Malnutrition and nutrition :

Fight against Malnutrition : Our bodies need nourishment to function, just like a machine needs fuel to run. Nutrition from food gives us energy, helps create muscles and other body components, and keeps us healthy.

• Nutrition is the process of consuming food while taking into account the body’s nutritional requirements.
• This process involves the ingestion, digestion, absorption, and assimilation of food.
• Eating gives us the energy we need to do our daily tasks.
• Nutrition has a vital role in both development and health. Increased longevity, stronger immune systems, safer pregnancies and deliveries, decreased risk of non-communicable diseases (including diabetes and cardiovascular disease), and better health for mothers, babies, and children are all associated with better nutrition.

Malnutrition (Fight against Malnutrition) :

Malnutrition is defined as an imbalance, excess, or shortage of nutrients in the body. Children, teenagers, and expectant and nursing mothers are more vulnerable to illness and even death due to malnutrition. Nutrient imbalances, surpluses, or deficiencies in an individual’s diet. We have to fight against malnutrition.

Addresses three groups :

• Undernutrition
• Micronutrient-related malnutrition
• Overweight, obesity and diet-related

A. Under-nutrition :

• Low weight for height: Also referred to as wasting, this condition denotes recent, significant weight loss brought on by inadequate nutrition, either as a result of a person not eating enough food or an infectious ailment, like diarrhea, that caused them to lose weight.
• The term stunting refers to low height for feed. It results from chronic or repeated undernutrition, which is typically linked to poor socioeconomic circumstances, poor nutrition and health of mothers, frequent illness, and/or improper early feeding and care of infants and young children. Stunting prevents people from developing to their full potential in both their physical and mental abilities.
• Adolescents and children who weigh little in relation to their age are deemed underweight. An individual who is underweight may be wasted, stunted, or both.

B. Micro-nutrient-related malnutrition :

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies: A nutritional deficiency happens when the body is unable to absorb or obtain the required quantity of nutrients from diet. Deficiencies can cause a number of health issues. These can include issues with skin, digestion, bone growth that is either stunted or faulty, and even dementia.

C. Overweight, obesity and diet-related :

• Overweight that could be harmful to one’s health
• An imbalance between energy expenditure and consumption might have negative health effects.

Essential Elements of Nutrition :

1. Carbohydrate:
   • Energy-producing
2. Vitamins and minerals
   • Prevent illness and promote good health
   • Support many bodily processes
3. Proteins
   • Mostly for development
   • Bodybuilding
4. Fats :
   • Give the body energy
   • Encourage the formation of cells.
5. Water :
   • Water elevates mood and enhances cognitive function.
   • Aids in removing impurities, delivering nutrients to cells, keeping the body hydrated, and avoiding constipation.

Deficits in micro-nutrients :

• Deficits in micronutrients are a major underlying risk factor that contributes to the worldwide burden of disease. More than 2,500 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000 adolescents are caused by iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia.
• Adolescent females are more likely than males to suffer from iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia, and in countries with lower social development indices (SDI), the prevalence is higher.
• Micronutrient deficits are largely caused by iodine insufficiency, which is more prevalent in female teenagers.

Underweight :

Less than two Standard Deviations (SDs) from the median BMI by age and sex is known as underweight (thinness), and it affects 8.4% of girls and 12.4% of boys.

Overweight :

Among teenagers in Low and Low Middle Income Countries (LMICs), overnutrition is becoming a more significant population health concern.

Adolescents’ The Recommended Daily Allowance of Nutrients :

The Needs for Nutrition in Adolescence :

• Adolescence has greater nutritional needs because of the growth spurt.
• Additional iron needs for teenage girls
• Teenagers who eat well are better able to learn, play, and develop.

Consumption of Fast Food in Adolescence

Calories per 100 grams in foods that are frequently consumed

• Pizza has 295 calories.
• Burger: 266 calories
• 536 calories in chips
• With 262 calories, a samosa
• 38 calories from soft drinks
• 546 calories from chocolate
• 300 calories from jalebi
• Cake has 256 calories.

2. Reasons why teens are more prone to choose bad foods ?

They could be influenced by their peers and the media to choose unhealthy foods and to have a particular body type.

• Having home-cooked meals and dining with the family may not be favored
• Fast food is readily available to fit unpredictable schedules.
• Missing meals or substituting fast food for them
• Having trouble finding healthy options, such as food in school canteens
• Having trouble choosing meals for working or married adolescents, particularly girls who might be the last in the family to eat
• Adolescence is a time when people transition into a more independent stage of life, which also affects eating habits
• The most popular foods at fast food restaurants among teenagers include pizza, burgers, bread pakoras, samosas, and soft beverages. High in calories and low in nutrition, these can make you less hungry for normal meals.
• Availability, time, and convenience are prioritized over food value while choosing foods.

Adolescents Are More Probably to Choose Unhealthy Foods :

• Peer pressure and media influence to attain a particular body type.  
• Cooking at home and dining with the family might not be the best options. 
• Simple access to fast food. 
• Not eating or substituting fast food for meals. 
• Access to healthy food options may be limited.

The factors that affect adolescents’ nutrition :

a. Factors related to health and conditioning

• Diseases that are infectious
• Malnutrition can be caused by intestinal parasites, diarrhea, malaria, and tuberculosis.
• Environmental sanitation: Recurrent infections are another consequence of poor environmental cleanliness.

b. Food preferences and cultural considerations

• Cultural practices
  • Family members pass on dietary habits, customs, beliefs, traditions, and attitudes
  • Culture has a significant impact on eating habits, such as taboos
• Personal preferences and dislikes impact our dietary choices, and making bad choices on a regular basis might result in nutritional inadequacies.
• Cooking methods can affect the nutritional value of foods, for example, deep frying can decrease the nutritive value of foods

c. Socioeconomic factors :

Large family sizes, poverty, ignorance of the nutritional worth of foods, and ignorance about locally accessible and reasonably priced foods, among other factors.

d. Gender issues :

• Girls and women typically eat last and the leftovers in many ghouseholds. Girls who are menstruating also experience nutritional restrictions.
• Some young women marry young, become pregnant, and give birth early, all of which worsen their nutritional state.

Thanks and Regards

N.B. This information is suggestive only.