Teens and Nutrition

            It seems to me that the halls of the (small) high school I work at are constantly blocked by a handful of slow moving students on crutches. It's as though someone on every one of our sports teams faces a significant injury each season. I don't recall that many injuries when I was in high school and I have a hard time finding anyone else who does either. So, that got me thinking; why do sports related injuries appear to be on the rise? A little bit of research told me the answer might just be nutrition.

            For many years, childhood obesity has been a buzzword. By now, many families are aware of obesity related issues in their children and have taken measures to keep their children from becoming overweight. However, I'm starting to wonder if those measures do not sacrifice the nutrients children need to grow and develop properly. A 2011 federal survey found that only 15% of high school students and only 9% of girls drink milk which means few teenagers get the federally recommended amount of daily calcium.

            Those who do get lots of calcium, might not be getting enough vitamin D which is essential to the body's absorption of calcium. In fact, the body can't do much with calcium without vitamin D and a 2010 federal study found that teenage girls were the least likely of any other age group to get enough vitamin D. The body can synthesize vitamin D with the aid of sunlight, so the fact that teenagers spend less time outdoors than they used to does not help the deficiencies in their diet.

            I'm not a scientist so I can't say definitively that there is a correlation between increased sports related injuries in teens and their own poor nutritional habits, but it sure makes sense to me. I believe that most parents today do an adequate job of providing nutritious foods like milk, fruits, and vegetables to their little children. However, as those children grow older, I'm concerned that the parents (and their teens) are more concerned with the quantity of food eaten rather than the nutritional quality of it. Parents need to remember that their teens are still children. Sure, they are children that often pack their own lunches or drive to restaurants with friends on the weekends, but they are still children with growing bodies that have needs.

            Parents need to remain engaged in their children's diets and demand that they drink milk and eat fruits and vegetables just like they did when the kids were little. If nothing else, parents can at least be aware of daily dietary needs for their children and provide multi-vitamins and other supplements to fill in holes for teens who absolutely refuse to eat this or that. Keeping nutrition in the same discussion as obesity can go a long ways toward creating healthy adults out of healthy children....and maybe it will keep my hallways from becoming blocked too.