“Intake of Nutritional sound diet helps adolescents to maintain good health”.-SEVAI Health Worker D.Selvi

Adolescents express their happiness

SEVAI Health and nutrition worker, Dravida Selvi spoke to the adolescents of Arubuhalnagar. While addressing the adolescents. Dravida Selvi mentioned “the Intake of Nutritional sound diet helps adolescents to maintain good health. To develop to their optimal potential, it is vital that children are provided with nutritionally sound diets. Different stages of the life cycle dictate differing nutrient needs. Regular meals and healthy snacks that include carbohydrate-rich foods, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, legumes and nuts should contribute to proper growth and development without supplying excessive energy to the diet. Children need to drink plenty of fluids, especially if it is hot or they are physically active. Water is obviously a good source of liquid and supplies fluid without calories. Variety is important in children's diets and other sources of fluid such as milk and milk drinks, fruit juices and soft drinks can also be chosen to provide needed fluids. The nutritional requirements of young people are influenced primarily by the spurt of growth that occurs at puberty. The peak of growth is generally between 11 and 15 years for girls and 13 and 16 years for boys. The nutrient needs of individual teenagers differ greatly, and food intake can vary enormously from day to day, so that those with deficient or excessive intakes on one day may well compensate on the next. In this period of life, several nutrients are at greater deficiency risk including iron and calcium. Among

Health and Nutrition educators of SEVAI

adolescents, iron-deficiency anemia is one of the most common diet-related deficiency diseases. Adolescents are particularly susceptible to iron deficiency anaemia in view of their increased blood volume and muscle mass during growth and development. This raises the need of iron for building up haemoglobin, the red pigment in blood that carries oxygen, and for the related protein myoglobin, in muscle. The increase in lean body mass (LBM), composed mainly of muscle, is more important in adolescent boys than in girls. In preadolescence years, LBM is about the same for both sexes. Other factors contributing to elevated iron needs are increased body weight and the beginning of menstruation for girls. All these factors should be taken into account when assessing iron needs in this group of age. One of the most important diet considerations during adolescence is an increase in the intake of iron-rich foods such as lean meats and fish as well as beans, dark green vegetables, nuts and iron-fortified cereals and other grains. Adolescents

Preadolescencent of SEVAI School

following vegetarian diets are therefore at an increased risk of iron-deficiency. The skeleton accounts for at least 99% of the body stores of calcium and the gain in skeletal weight are most rapid during the adolescent growth spurt. About 45% of the adult skeletal mass is formed during adolescence, although its growth continues well beyond the adolescent period and into the third decade. All the calcium for the growth of the skeleton must be derived from the diet. The largest gains are made in early adolescence, between about 10-14 years in girls. During peak adolescent growth, calcium retention is, on average, about 200mg/day in girls and 300 mg/day in boys. The efficiency of calcium absorption is only around 30% so it is important that the diet supplies an adequate calcium intake to help build the densest bones possible. As well as a good dietary supply of calcium, other vitamins or minerals, like vitamin D and phosphorous, are needed for building up bones. Physical activity is also essential, particularly weight-bearing exercise, which provides the stimulus to build and retain bone in the body. Making the right dietary and lifestyle choices early in life will help young people develop health-promoting behaviours that they can follow throughout life”. -Govin