Today’s teenagers lead incredibly busy lives as they juggle school, sports, and social commitments. To tackle this hectic schedule and maintain their health, they require nutritious food.
However, research indicates that many Australian teens are falling short of essential nutrients. Their diets tend to be dominated by sugary, salty, and processed foods. This raises questions about the underlying causes of their dietary choices and how we can encourage healthier eating habits among them.
The Teenage Years
Adolescence is a vital stage marked by significant growth and transformation.
During these years, teenagers undergo numerous physical changes, including doubling their body weight and experiencing growth spurts. They also face rapid hormonal shifts as their brains release increasing amounts of growth-related hormones, which influence stress levels and sexual development.
Alongside these physical developments, they confront various emotional and social challenges, including a desire for independence. This can lead them to drift away from, or sometimes rebel against, family values. As they form new friendships, they must also balance these social commitments with academics and athletics.
Good nutrition is essential for helping adolescents navigate these changes, but research shows that teenagers often fail to consume enough healthy foods.
What Teens Are Eating
On average, Australian teens obtain around 35% of their daily caloric intake from unhealthy, nutrient-deficient foods. This includes items like sweets, processed meats, and salty snacks. A substantial number of young Australians also consume sweetened beverages, such as sodas and energy drinks, with teenagers averaging sugary drinks at least weekly.
Alarmingly, adolescents are the least likely of all age groups to meet the recommended intake of fruits and vegetables—two servings of fruit and five servings of vegetables daily. Disturbingly, only 4% of teenagers reach this guideline.
Additionally, globally, about one-third of teenagers face food insecurity, primarily due to issues like poverty, conflict, or climate change.
A 2022 study that examined students aged 11 to 18 across 95 countries revealed that up to 30% had encountered food insecurity in the previous month. This study also highlighted a correlation between food insecurity and decreased school attendance, reduced physical activity, and adverse mental health outcomes.
Not Just ‘Bad Choices’
Why do teenagers often prefer unhealthy foods over nutritious ones?
It’s not merely a case of poor decision-making. Criticizing their food choices can damage their relationship with food and lead to feelings of shame and low self-worth.
Research indicates that various factors influence teenagers’ food choices.
One significant influence is their social environment. As they mature, teens tend to spend more time with friends and less with family, which impacts their eating habits. Their choices are often swayed by the dietary preferences of their peers and the types of establishments they frequent, such as fast food outlets. Additionally, the affordability of food plays a role, as unhealthy options are often more economical.
Social trends also significantly affect their eating habits. Targeted marketing and celebrity endorsements disproportionately impact adolescent food preferences, often promoting fast foods and sweets. Current food trends, many of which are propagated by social media, encourage the consumption of items like microwave-friendly mug cakes and the TikTok sensation known as “girl dinner,” both of which are typically low in nutritional value.
Taste also plays a crucial role; unhealthy foods are often designed to be irresistibly delicious. Companies market these products to trigger our cravings, making it difficult for teens to resist. Furthermore, they may struggle to regulate their appetites due to incomplete development in this area. Advertising reinforces unhealthy options as being the most appealing and convenient.
Raising Healthier Teens
The good news is that we can support teens in making better food choices, but this requires coordinated efforts at both policy and family levels.
In Policy
Unfortunately, teenagers are often overlooked in nutrition research and policy. Our new global framework for adolescent nutrition seeks to address this. Collaborating with young people and international nutrition specialists, we’ve developed key recommendations:
- Enhance nutrition education in schools by creating a national curriculum that promotes healthy eating and counters misinformation from social media.
- Improve access to healthy, affordable foods by providing or subsidizing nutritious school meals and expanding community food initiatives in places frequented by teenagers, like sports clubs.
- Regulate marketing practices by limiting advertisements for unhealthy foods aimed at teens and prohibiting such marketing near schools, sports fields, and public transport.
At Home
There are also practical steps that families can take to encourage healthier eating habits among teenagers.
Consider these ideas:
- Designate your teen as the “cook of the day,” allowing them one day each week to choose and/or prepare a nutritious meal, aiding in the development of their cooking skills.
- Include your teen in meal planning, prompting them to think of healthy options that are delicious and budget-friendly.
- Encourage shared meals as a family, ideally without electronic devices to foster connection and communication.
Effective change requires making healthy foods more accessible and appealing for teenagers on a policy level, while at home, it’s crucial to avoid shaming them for their food choices. Instead, we should demonstrate how enjoyable and achievable healthy eating can be. Together, these efforts will guide teenagers toward becoming healthy, active adults.
