Special Nutritional Needs of Teens

In theory a teenager needs three square meals a day and to eat several nutritious snacks a day to stay healthy. However most teens are as restless as they were when they were growing toddlers. That is because they are going through another growing spurt.

It may be hard for many different reasons to get your teenager to sit down with your family and eat a meal. However this is crucial to getting some control of his or her diet.

One trick is to assign one duty to your teen every day or two and that is to cook the entire family dinner. That way the teen is occupied with matters to do with nutrition and has less time to eat after school. Yet another benefit to this approach is that the food that your teen will consume over a period of months will be healthier than if you let someone else in the house be the chef.

National and population-based surveys, like one done at the have found that adolescents often fail to meet dietary recommendations for overall nutritional status and for specific nutrient intakes.

During this age emotional eating is prevalent. Many crave sugar and fat and succumb to that temptation to gorge on junk food. These results in a lower intake of a vitamin A, folic acid, fiber, iron, calcium, and zinc than is recommended

According to one study the low intake of iron and calcium among adolescent girls is of particular concern. Iron deficiency can impair cognitive function and physical performance, and inadequate calcium intake may increase fracture risk during adolescence and the risk of developing osteoporosis in later life.

If your adolescent seems stressed or sick then take him or her to a doctor. The culprit could very well be a lack of nutrients in the diet.

To stay healthy adolescents should do the following –
• Eat three meals a day, with healthy snacks.
• Increase fiber in the diet and decrease the use of salt.
• Drink a lot of water.
• For growing children and adolescents, it is generally recommended to watch total fat consumption in the diet, rather than counting calories.
• Eat balanced meals.
• When cooking for your adolescent, try to bake or broil instead of fry.
• Make sure your adolescent is not overdosing on sugar
• Eat fruit or vegetables for a snack.
• For children over 5, use low-fat dairy products.
• Decrease the use of butter and heavy gravies.
• Eat more chicken and fish.

It is also helpful for your teenager to eat by the guidelines established by the United States Department of Agriculture.

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Special Nutritional Needs of Newborns

If you are feeding your newborn breast milk then there simply will be no need of any type of supplementation except maybe Vitamin D.

However if you are feeding your baby formula be sure to talk with the doctor about vitamin D supplements for your baby. Breast milk and formula may not provide enough vitamin D, which is essential to help your baby absorb calcium and phosphorus — necessary for strong bones. Too little vitamin D may also cause rickets, a softening and weakening of bones.

There are also two points of view in place about whether or not you need to supplement the breast feeding newborn's diet with Vitamin D.

The theory is that if the mother has not had enough sun exposure or vitamin D during her pregnancy then the newborn's diet of breast milk should be supplemented.
The baby may also not need Vitamin D if he or she spends a lot of time outside in the sun. Vitamin D can be synthesized quite simply by the baby when the sun shines on its skin.

If you live in a northern climate where there is not much sun or where you experience a long winter then the baby may definitely need supplementation. In southern climates limit the newborn's exposure and apply sunscreen.

The recommended time that a baby should spend in the sun every day is twenty minutes. It is best to avoid the hours between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when the sun is at its strongest.

Breast fed infants tend to be better nourished. Breast milk contains lactose, protein and fat and is easily digested by a newborn's immature system.

None of the important antibodies found in breast milk are found in manufactured formula, which means that formula doesn’t provide the baby with the added protection against infection and illness that breast milk does.

Although breast feeding is recommended there may be some women who are unable to provide natural milk to their child for one reason or another. This means feeding your baby with a commercially prepared formula.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate formula companies to ensure that they provide all the known necessary nutrients (including vitamin D) in their formulas.
Commercial formulas are coming closer to duplicating what is in mother's milk but haven’t matched their exact combination and composition. The substances in breast milk are too complex to identify and imitate so that it is effective.

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