2 Nutrition of Healthy Infants, Children and Adolescents
Key Words
Adolescence · Nutrition · Adolescent health
Key Messages
- Adolescents (10–19 years of age) represent one
fifth of the global population and are considered a
healthy age group who will eventually enter the
work force and raise the economic productivity of
any country - It is a critical period marking phenomenal changes
including rapid physical, psychosocial, sexual and
cognitive maturation, and hence the nutrient needs
are higher in adolescence than at any other time in
the life cycle - Nutritional interventions for adolescents need to
be tailored to the developmental level of each indi-
vidual adolescent to respond to their needs and
should be delivered on a platform where they can
be reached - Adolescent nutrition research must move towards
identifying how effective intervention components
can be embedded within health, education and
care systems and achieve a long-term sustainable
impact © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel
Introduction
Adolescents (10–19 years of age) represent one
fifth of the global population and are considered
a healthy age group who will eventually enter the
work force and raise the economic productivity of
any country. There are 1.2 billion adolescents in
the world, 90% of whom live in low- and middle-
income countries (LMICs), and they make up
12% of the population in industrialized countries
compared with 19% in LMICs [1].
Adolescence is a critical period marking phe-
nomenal changes including rapid physical, psy-
chosocial, sexual and cognitive maturation, and
hence the nutrient needs are higher in adoles-
cence than at any other time in the life cycle.
Healthy eating in childhood and adolescence is
important for proper growth and development,
as optimal nutrition is a prerequisite for achiev-
ing the full growth potential and failure to achieve
optimal nutrition may lead to delayed and stunt-
ed linear growth. Furthermore, healthy nutrition
can also help prevent diet-related chronic diseas-
es such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular
diseases, pulmonary, hepatic and renal diseases,
cancer and osteoporosis [2, 3]. It has been high-
lighted that nutrition interventions for adoles-
Koletzko B, et al. (eds): Pediatric Nutrition in Practice. World Rev Nutr Diet. Basel, Karger, 2015, vol 113, pp 122–126
DOI: 10.1159/000367879
2.7 Adolescent Nutrition
Rehana A. Salam Zulfiqar A. Bhutta