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Teenagers have a reputation for bad eating habits. They go overboard with junk foods and fast foods, follow fad diets, skip meals, and don't get enough of the nutrient-rich foods that their growing bodies need. Nutritionists say such extreme eating habits can be dangerous.
A Youth Risk Behavior Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that teens' unhealthy dietary habits, smoking, alcohol and drug use, and risky sexual practices put teens at risk for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease later on in life. Teens' extreme eating habits, which have also been labeled disordered and dysfunctional, can even lead to death, experts say.
Ironically, the nutrients that teenagers need the most in those peak growth years they don't get, says Sheila Kelly, a clinical dietitian at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C.
"In general, a teenager's diet is very low in vitamins and minerals," says Kelly. In particular, teenagers lack calcium, iron and zinc. Parents can't always control what their teens eat, she says, but they can influence the way their children eat (see tips below).
Kelly says peer pressure, on-the-go lifestyles and dual-working parents relying heavily on convenience foods contribute to teens' poor eating habits. The media also has an influence, she says.
According to a study that appeared in the "Journal of Nutrition Education," children see more than 100,000 food commercials on TV by the time they are adolescents, and many of those commercials are mainly for high-fat and high-sugar foods, Kelly says.
Also, in between the Big Mac and Pepsi pitches, teens, particularly girls, fall prey to Madison Avenue's message that there's no such thing as being too rich or too thin, according to nutritionist Frances Berg, who is editor of the "Healthy Weight Journal" and author of "Afraid to Eat: Children and Teens in Weight Crisis."
In a study of 1,000 suburban girls, Berg found that more than half of the 14-year-old girls in the study had already been on one weight loss diet. In another study, at least 30 percent of 9-year-old girls and 46 percent to 81 percent of 10-year-old girls in California were no longer eating normally because of fear of fat.
"They drink too much diet soda. They don't get enough calcium, which effects them later on in life, and they obsess about food intake," Kelly says of many teenage girls' diet.
U.S. Department of Agriculture surveys show that nine out of 10 girls and nearly seven out of 10 boys ages 12 to 19 are not getting the recommended amount of calcium needed for strong bones. Peak bone growth is up to age 18, according to Kelly. The National Academy of Sciences recommends that teens and children ages 9 to 19 consume 1,300 mg of calcium per day, the equivalent of four servings of dairy products.
Teenagers who don't get enough calcium can make things worse drinking copious amounts of soda, which leaches calcium from the bones, according to Kelly.
Kelly says teenagers also tend to avoid fruits and vegetables, which are great sources of disease-preventing phytochemicals. A CDC National Risk Behavior Survey in 1997 found that just over 29 percent of students surveyed had eaten the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables during the day preceding the survey.
So what are worried parents to do? Kelly offers these five tips for helping coax a teenager to the table or to help detour potential eating problems before their child hits the teen years:
- Encourage good eating habits and introduce a wide variety of nutritious foods at an early age. Avoid short order cooking for picky toddlers.
- Give adolescents a choice in foods rather than insist they eat what you put in front of them. Make sure the choices are nutritious ones.
- Limit TV watching. If your teenager is plopped in front of the television set for hours on end, that means he or she is not out exercising, which also helps build bone, strengthen the heart and offers a healthy form of weight control.
- Find innovative ways to include nutritious foods in their diet. For example, have calcium-fortified yogurt or puddings on hand for desserts. Or serve soft-shell tacos made with low-fat meat, part-skim mozzarella cheese, and fresh mushrooms and peppers. "This way, it doesn't make it seem like food is being shoved down their throats," Kelly says.
- Be a positive role model. Practice what you preach. If young people see their parents eating fruits and vegetables, they will, too. Also, parents should avoid yo-yo dieting and other extreme eating behaviors themselves.
The National Cancer Institute and the CDC have a quick quiz for how your eating habits stack up. To take the quiz, visit http://5aday.nci.nih.gov/track-formhabits.shtml
Extreme Eating Facts
- Two-thirds of all teenage girls in the United States have abnormal eating behavior and one half are severely undernourished.
- At least one American child in five is overweight.
- About nine out of 10 young women and nearly seven out of 10 young men ages 12 to 19 are not getting the recommended calcium.
- About 80 percent of 10-year-old girls and 50 percent of 9-year-old girls in the United States have been on a diet.
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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