Adolescent and Adult
Prepared by:
Shiksha Adhikari
Samiksha Dulal
Definitions:
 Nutrition is the organic process by which an organism
assimilates food and uses it for growth and development.
 Dietary Reference Intake(DRI), developed by the Institute of
Medicine Food and Nutrition Board, are four nutrient-based
reference values intended for planning and assessing diets.
They include the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), the
Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), the Adequate Intake
(AI), and the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL).
Definitions cont…
 Adolescence is the second decade of life and is defined as the
period of physical, psychological and social maturing from
childhood to adulthood. Generally, the term "adolescents"
refers to individuals between the ages of 10-19 years.
 Adult are the fully grown individuals with no or minimum
growth and are expected to take responsibility for one’s own
action and well-being.
Adolescent:
 Adolescence can be divided into three stages. Early
adolescence (11-14 years of age) is characterized by the onset
of puberty and increased cognitive development. Middle
adolescence (15-17 years of age) and Late adolescence (1819* years of age) is a time for making important personal and
occupational decisions.
 Adolescence is the only time following infancy when the rate
of physical growth actually increases, this sudden growth spurt
is associated with hormonal, cognitive, and emotional changes
that make adolescence an especially vulnerable period of life.
Adolescent cont…..
 Secular changes in height and weight are observed
with increase of about 2.5-3.5cm and 1 to 1.5kg in mean
height and weight respectively.
 In boys muscle growth occurs high and in girls
muscles accompanied by fat accumulation occurs.
 As a result of height increment during adolescent
bone growth occurs rapidly.
 Development of secondary sexual characteristics
cause different hormonal changes.
The growth spurt of boys is slower than that of girls.
Menstruation starts in girls.
Adolescent and Diet
 First, there is a greater demand for calories and nutrients due
to the dramatic increase in physical growth and development
over a relatively short period of time.
 Second, adolescence is a time of changing lifestyles and food
habits that affect both nutrient needs and intake.
 Third, adolescent drive for individuation means more
opportunity to assert food choices and expand or narrow
healthy options.
Nutrition Recommendations:
 The nutritional and food requirement of a human varies in
accordance to the difference in age or state of life such as
infancy, adolescence, etc.
 During adolescence hormonal changes accelerate growth in
height. Growth is faster than at any other time in the
individual's postnatal life except the first year.
 It is during puberty that body composition and biologic
changes (e.g., menarche in girls) emerge which affect genderspecific nutrient needs what so ever nutrient needs for both
males and females increase sharply during adolescence.
Nutrition Recommendations cont…
 Nutrient needs parallel the rate of growth, with the greatest
nutrient demands occurring during the peak velocity of growth
during adolescent phase(at the peak of the adolescent growth
spurt, the nutritional requirements may be twice as high as
those of the remaining period of adolescence.)
RDI of nutrients(FAO/WHO)
Energy Recommendation:
 The calories for both boys and girls of the age group 1-3 and
7-9 years remain same.
 From the age of 10 years, there is remarkable difference in
the calorie needs of boys and girls.
 Boys need 2750-3020kcal whereas girls require lesser
calorie i.e. 2330-2440kcal.
Fig: Comparison of Energy RDA of different age
group
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 9
Boys
10 to 12
Girls
13 to 15
16 to 18
Protein Recommendation:
Protein represents 10-11 percent of energy intake.
The protein intake usually exceeds 1g/kg body weight.
Protein requirement for both sex are same up to the
age of 9 and boys require more protein in their diet
from the age of 13.
Girls require more protein during the age of 10 -12.
Protein Recommendation:
70
60
50
40
Boys
30
Girls
20
10
0
1 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 9
10 to 12
13 to 15
16 to 18
Fat and Essential Fat
Recommendation:
 Total fat intake of below 25 percentage of energy is
considered to effect growth in adolescent.
 The desirable level of visible fat intake for adolescents
is 35-50gm/day.
The essential fatty acid requirement is 3 percentage of
total energy.
Since they have a high fat demand food low in
saturated fat and trans fat should be emphasized in
meal planning.
Mineral Recommendation:
Bone growth demand calcium during adolescent so
800mg of calcium per day is needed where 150mg of
Ca must be retained everyday to allow for the increase
in bone mass.
Elemental Ca : P ratio of 1 : 1 should be maintained.
There is additional requirement of iron during
adolescent for the expansion of blood volume and
formation of myoglobin and hemoglobin of 12µg/kg
for boys and 16µg/kg body weight for girls.
Vitamin Recommendation:
 The structural and functional integrity of newly
formed cells depend on the availability of Vitamin A, C
and E. 600µg of retinol and 40mg of ascorbic acid is
recommended.
 The skeletal growth demands availability of Vitamin
D, in the area with minimum exposure to sunlight
400µg of Vitamin D is recommended.
Tissue growth involves amino acid metabolism so
there is requirement of vitamin B6. 100mg/day
Vitamin B6 is recommended.
Factors that Contribute to Poor
Eating Habits in Adolescents:
 Easily available, low-cost, high-fat and/or high-sugar, low-
nutrient foods, such as French fries, candy, chips, or soda.
 Limited access to healthy foods that appeal to adolescents.
 Perception that healthy, low-in-fat, unprocessed, nutrient-dense
foods (high in nutrients compared with their caloric content) are
inconvenient and lack taste.
 Lack of knowledge regarding appropriate nutrition and the
health impact of poor nutrition.
 Poor parental role modeling.
 Increased incidence of disordered eating due to 1) fear of
weight gain, 2) desire to build muscle mass, 3) to meet sports
weight cut-offs, and 4) media and advertising messages.
Some Dietary Guidelines:
Adequate and well balanced diet should be taken to
prevent obesity or under nutrition.
An adolescent girl should take enough calcium to
increase bone density which helps in delaying onset of
osteoporosis.
 No meal of the day should be missed.
Food should be multi colored and attractive, must
include fruits and vegetables in diet to meet minerals
vitamins and fiber requirement.
Iron rich food should be included to prevent anemia.
Physical activity:
 Adolescent must be encouraged to do physical activity
particularly outdoor games.
 Physical activity regulates appetite.
 Physical activity can also prevent premenstrual
dysphoric disorder(PMDD) in adolescent girls.
 Exercise helps to develop muscles in adolescent boys.
 Physical activity and regular exercise prevent obesity
in adolescents.
Adults
They do not grow with respect to height but
fluctuation in weight can be observed, there are no any
significant changes in adults.
Main change that occurs in female adults is pregnancy
and lactation.
Many diet and behavior onset diseases can also be seen
in adults.
Energy Recommendation
 Energy requirement of an adult man and women is
based upon Reference man(60kg, 1.73m) and
Reference women(55kg, 1,61m) respectively.
 Some examples of sedentary worker are teacher, tailor,
housewife, computer professional, etc. Moderate
workers are agricultural labor, maid, coolie, rickshaw
puller, etc. Heavy worker are stone cutter, black smith,
mine-worker, etc.
ICMR recommended Dietary Allowance
for an adult man and women-2010
Sedentary
male=2320
female=1900
Heavy
male=3490
female=2850
Moderate
male=2730
female=2230
Protein Recommendation
The average daily protein requirement of an Indian
adult in terms of high quality protein is 0.5gm/kg body
weight.
In case of protein coming from mixed vegetable origin
1gm/kg body weight is recommended.
It is necessary to maintain the protein calorie ratio. 6
to 12% energy from protein is recommended.
Fat and Essential Fat
Recommendation:
Recommended total fat calories is between 15-30%
energy.
At all level of calorie intake, invisible fat furnishes
about 9% energy and visible fat 10%.
A minimal intake of 12gm visible fat in form of
unsaturated vegetable oil can meet linoleic acid
requirement.
Saturated fat, cis-monosaturated fatty acid, proteins
and cholesterol can increase essential fatty acid
requirement.
ICMR recommended Dietary Allowance for
an adult man and women-2010
Visible fat in grams
Moderate
male=30
female=25
Sedentary
male=25
female=20
Heavy
male=40
female=30
Mineral recommendation
Calcium intake of 400-600mg is recommended for
both male and female.
To achieve this recommendation one must consume at
least 300ml of buffalo milk a day.
Calcium : phosphorous ration of 1:1 is to be
maintained, so RDA for phosphorous is 600mg.
Iron requirement for women is 4mg higher than that
of men. RDA according to ICMR 2010 for iron is 17mg
for man and 21mg for female.
To enhance the iron absorption rate Vitamin C. intake
should be increased. 40mg/day is recommended.
Mineral recommendation cont…
The actual requirement of zinc is 2.7mg/day but due to
processing losses and absorption losses of zinc the
RDA suggested is 12mg/day.
Vitamin Recommendation
The requirement of Vitamin A is 600µg of retinol for
both genders.
The requirement of B vitamins is based on calorie
requirement. 0.5mg of thiamine, 0.6mg of riboflavin
and 6.6mg of niacin per 1000 calories.
2mg/day of pyridoxine is recommended for both
genders.
The requirement of vitamin E is suggested to be
0.8mg/gm essential fatty acid. Roughly it is calculated
to be 8-10mg tocopherol/day.
Vitamin Recommendation cont…..
FAO/WHO suggested 55µg of vitamin K for adults.
Some Dietary Guidelines
High amount of colored food should be added to the
diet which contributes antioxidants, detoxifying
effects, suppressing effect and anti inflammatory effect
and promote health.
To reduce the risk of hypercholesteraemic effect soya
protein, yoghurt, milk, high fiber content in diet
should be included.
To reduce the risk of hyperglycaemic effect soluble
fiber should be included in diet.
Skipping of meals should be controlled.
Some Dietary Guidelines cont…
Saturated fats, trans fats should be avoided and use of
MUFA and PUFA should be increased.
Empty calorie should not be included in diet.
Use of junk food should be discouraged instead use of
fruits and vegetables to optimum should be focused.
Thank You