Running Head: Adolescent Healthy Eating 1

Adolescent Healthy Eating

Rebekah Overmyer

Arizona State University

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Abstract

Nutrition can have a significant effect on children’s physical and mental well-being.

Increasing numbers of studies are showing the negative consequences of poor nutrition even as

the number of children with obesity is rising. This problem disproportionately affects those in

low income areas who also face other problems due to poverty that can exacerbate the mental

and physical health issues caused by poor nutrition. There are many strategies that can be utilized

by schools to aid students in making healthy eating choices, but the most popular seem to be

educating students about proper nutrition and giving them healthy and appealing food options

when possible. Adolescence is one of the best times to instill healthy eating habits in children,

and making the effort to promote healthy eating can have a huge effect on school performance,

behavior, and socialness of students.

Mental Health and Healthy Eating

Healthy eating has a strong link to mental health and academic performance in school for

adolescents. “High-quality foods” that have many vitamins and minerals can keep the brain from

being damaged by waste created by the body using oxygen, known as oxidative stress (Selhub

2015). Processed and refined foods do not contain these important elements, and diets that are

high in these low-quality foods can harm the brain, reduce insulin production, and cause

inflammation (Selhub 2015). Studies have shown that a bad diet can lead to impaired brain

function and affect mood conditions such as depression (Selhub 2015). People with mental

health disorders also tend to die 10 to 25 years earlier than average which could have to do with

poor nutrition (Mental Health Foundation 2015). In an analysis of 22 studies covering the effects

of a Mediteranian diet (which focuses on eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and beans)
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on health, it was found that this type of diet was often linked to increased cognitive functioning

and decreased depression along with other health benefits (Kosti et. al 2013).

Poor nutrition is often a factor in obesity which can also have a strong link to mental

health issues. A 2010 study found that those with depression had a risk increased by 58% to

become obese, and vise versa, those who are obese had a risk increased by 55% of developing

depression (Mental Health Foundation 2015). People who live in poverty are also more likely to

have poor mental health, and those in poverty tend to have the highest proportion of obesity and

bad nutrition (Mental Health Foundation 2015). In addition to obesity, those who live in poverty

are often exposed to food insecurity and undernutrition which can be associated with behavioral

and psychosocial problems in children (Division of Adolescent and School Health 2011). All of

these factors build up on one another and make certain people very high risk a number of

emotional and physical problems.

The School’s Function in Teaching Proper Nutrition

According to the Center for Disease Control, the proportion of children in the U.S. aged

6-11 with obesity has nearly tripled from 980 with 20% of this population being overweight;

similarly, children aged 12-19 see a similar trend, with about 18% being overweight as of 2008

(Division of Adolescent and School Health 2011). Because over 95% of children aged 5-17 are

enrolled in schools and schools have access to students for over 6 hours a day typically, schools

are in an ideal position to target children’s nutrition (Division of Adolescent and School Health

2011).

One approach to increasing proper nutrition habits in children and adolescents is to

increase self-regulation. One study of two Dutch high schools found that almost all high school
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students surveyed considered it important to eat healthy, but only about half of the population

actually followed this in practice (De Ridder et. al 2012). It is shown that eating behaviors

established during adolescence often become eating behaviors for life (De Ridder et. al 2012).

One way that schools can increase healthy eating is to teach students self-regulation techniques

and to help them establish these healthy eating habits now before poor habits become harder to

break.

The Center for Disease Control’s Division of Adolescent and School Health established

the following guidelines in 2011 for schools aiming to increase student’s health:

“1. Use a coordinated approach to develop, implement, and evaluate healthy eating and

physical activity policies and practices.

2. Establish school environments that support healthy eating and physical activity.

3. Provide a quality school meal program and ensure that students have only appealing,

healthy food and beverage choices offered outside of the school meal program.

4. Implement a comprehensive physical activity program with quality physical education

as the cornerstone.

5. Implement health education that provides students with the knowledge, attitudes,

skills, and experiences needed for healthy eating and physical activity.

6. Provide students with health, mental health, and social services to address healthy

eating, physical activity, and related chronic disease prevention.

7. Partner with families and community members in the development and implementation

of healthy eating and physical activity policies, practices, and programs.

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8. Provide a school employee wellness program that includes healthy eating and physical

activity services for all school staff members.

9. Employ qualified persons and provide professional development opportunities for

physical education, health education, nutrition services, and health, mental health, and

social services staff members, as well as staff members who supervise recess, cafeteria

time, and out-of-school--time programs.”

Not all of these guidelines are specifically aimed at healthy eating, but many do have a

component involving food that can be instituted by the school. The main approach with these

guidelines is to teach students about healthy eating and then to give them appealing and healthy

food choices.
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References

De Ridder, D., De Vet, E., De Wit, J., Stok, M. (2012). “I Should Remember I Don’t Want to

Become Fat”: Adolescents’ Views on Self-Regulatory Strategies for Healthy Eating.

Science Direct, 35 (​ 1), 67-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.06.004

Division of Adolescent and School Health. (2011). School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy

​ etrieved
Eating and Physical Activity. ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. R

from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr6005a1.htm

Mental Health Foundation. (2018). Diet and Mental Health. Retrieved from

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/d/diet-and-mental-health

Selhub, E. (2015). Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food. Retrieved from

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-2015111

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Kosti, R., Panagiotakos, D., Psaltopoulou, T., Scarmeas, N., Sergentanis, I., Sergentanis, T.

(2013). Mediterranean Diet, Stroke, Cognitive Impairment, and Depression: A

Meta-Analysis. ​Annals of Neurology, 74 ​(4), 580-591. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.23944