Question

What facts about Growth and Nutrition do you need to be aware of regarding your teen? Include information about growth spurts, nutritional needs and body image.

Answer 1

Physical Growth

Adolescence is a time of great change for young people when physical changes are happening at an accelerated rate. The beginning of adolescence is signalled by a sudden increase in the rate of physical growth. While this growth spurt occurs for both sexes, it starts earlier for girls (at about age 10 or 11) than for boys (about age 12 or 13). During puberty the gonads or primary sex glands produce increased levels of sex hormones, and the external sex organs assume their adult form. Girls begin to menstruate and boys start to produce sperm. The gonads and the adrenal glands secrete sex hormones directly into the blood stream; they create a balance that includes more androgens in boys and more estrogens in girls. Boys’ shoulders broaden more than their hips and much of the increase in body size comes from muscle, not from fat and that helps to increase the muscle strength. As boy’s larynx enlarges and his vocal cords lengthen, his voice deepens. The girls’ proportions change as her hips broaden more rapidly and she adds body fat. Girls’ uterus begin to mature, breast enlarges, and her voice lowers. These new hormonal levels lead directly to the dramatic physical changes of puberty, and within about four years, the child’s body is transformed into the body of an adult.

Facial features, too often change during puberty. Characteristics associated with childhood, such as large eyes, a high forehead, round cheeks and a small chin; give way to a more adult appearance. Earlier maturing girls are taller than their classmates, frequently taller than boys of their own age, and their increased sexual attractiveness may invite unwanted sexual advances from older persons.

Some of the most significant parts of pubertal development involve distinctive physiological changes in individuals' height, weight, body composition, and circulatory and respiratory systems. These changes are largely influenced by hormonal activity. Hormones play an organizational role, priming the body to behave in a certain way once puberty begins, and an active role, referring to changes in hormones during adolescence that trigger behavioural and physical changes.

Puberty usually is not very smooth, single process. It is actually a series of correlated events that reflect a group of interrelated processes. Youngsters progress through these events at different rates. This lack of harmony produces a growth trend known as “asynchrony”.

Nutritional needs and body images

Healthy eating during adolescence is important as body changes during this time affect an individual’s nutritional and dietary needs. Adolescents are becoming more independent and making many food choices on their own. Since they have a growth spurt and an increase in appetite and need healthy foods to meet their needs. They are also heavily influenced by their peers. Meal accessibility is important to many teens and they may be eating too much of the wrong types of food, like soft drinks, fast-food, or processed foods.

Calories are the measurement used to express the energy delivered by food. The body demands more calories during early adolescence than at any other time of life. The nutrients protein, carbohydrates, and fats in food serve as the body's energy sources. A well-rounded diet based on the expert guidelines should deliver sufficient amounts of all the essential vitamins and minerals. Adolescents tend to most often fall short of their daily quotas of calcium, iron, zinc and vitamin D.

Also, a common concern of many teens is dieting. Girls may feel pressure from peers to be thin and to limit what they eat. Both boys and girls may diet to “make weight” for a particular sporting or social event. A variety of cultural, social, physical, and psychological changes that characterize adolescence uniquely interact to shape body image between the ages of 12 years and 18 years. Our appearance-oriented culture often targets teens as potential consumers and has a significant negative impact on their body image.

Physical changes also coincide with consequent comparisons to cultural ideals of beauty. For girls, cultural anticipations underline being thin and lean with large breasts as seen in print media, television, and online. Thus, changes associated with puberty, such as increases in adiposity and widening of the hips, may be perceived negatively and seen as incongruent with the prototypical and societally valued “thin ideal.” Early maturing girls in particular, who are prone to greater puberty-related weight gain, have reported a greater drive for thinness and stronger preference for a slender figure than their later maturing counterparts. This finding suggests that early maturing girls may be especially vulnerable to developing a negative body image when they perceive their changing bodies to be skewed with cultural ideals.