Critical issues in adolescent nutrition: Needs and recommendations

Abstract

Adolescent nutrition is a critical component of adolescent health and a prerequisite for health, wellness, and quality of life. Adolescents across the globe, however, experience nutritional deficits that threaten their health and well-being; therefore, adolescent nutrition warrants investment from various sectors. Promoting healthful dietary behaviors in adolescents is important for proper growth and development, disease prevention, prevention of overweight and obesity, and the establishment of sound dietary patterns that can be sustained into adulthood. Although behavior change is highly complex, there is evidence to support the efficacy of implementing strategies to promote healthy eating behaviors in adolescents. The nutritional health of adolescents can be addressed through an ecological approach that employs culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate strategies at multiple levels of behavioral influence, including individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy. In addition, social cognitive theory can be infused within the ecological framework to capture the reciprocal and dynamic interchange that takes place with the individual, environment, and behavior. The promotion of adolescent nutrition is a global challenge, but one that can bring invaluable rewards in terms of health and wellness, productivity, and quality of life. Therefore, it is imperative for individuals, families, communities, and nations to address the adolescent nutritional challenges in order to enhance the present and the future for all.