nutrition
What parents need to know about teen nutrition The human body needs up to 40 nutrients daily to function optimally and with the significant physical, social, and emotional development that teens undergo, their need for these nutrients and adequate energy to fuel this development is considerable.
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t’s important to help teens adopt healthy dietary habits – including being a great role model that your kids can follow by example. The nutrition experts at Bioteen Teen Nutrition share advice on which nutrients are important and how we can practically include these in your teen’s diet.
Added sugars are usually a concentrated form of sugar and include sugars like brown and white cane sugar, corn syrups, and fructose or beet sugar. These are either low in or devoid of nutrients and are used in the processing of packaged foods like syrups, sauces, breakfast cereals, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.
hyperactivity in adolescents is linked to cognitive deficits in adulthood.
Limit added sugars
Excessive consumption of sugar has been linked to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular complications. Excessive sugar is also detrimental to brain function, which is particularly relevant to teens. The sugar glucose is the main source of energy for the brain and too much of it can overstimulate the brain, often causing hyperactivity and mood swings. Some studies even suggest that brain
Energy needs vary depending on your teen’s height and weight, sex, age and activity levels. Based on average energy intake, teenage boys should aim to reduce their added sugar intake to between 3570g of sugar per day and teenage girls should aim for between 28-55g of sugar per day. To put this into perspective, one serving of low-fat yogurt can contain as much as 30 grams of sugar.
There are two main forms of sugar that we consume: natural sugar and added sugar. Natural sugar is found naturally inside fruit (as fructose) and dairy (as lactose). These sugars, as they are eaten from whole foods, come with added health benefits as they also contain nutrients like protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and dietary fibres.
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The World Health Organisation recommends that all adults and children reduce their intake of added sugars to less than 10% of their total daily energy, but ideally to less than 5%.
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