Childhood and Adolescent Nutrition

This chapter discusses childhood and adolescent nutrition. Childhood and adolescence are periods of rapid growth, learning, and development. Nutritional needs are high and differ in many respects from those of adults. Ensuring adequate food intake remains the challenge for many of the world's children. In contrast, for most children in high income countries, making more appropriate food choices and developing and maintaining healthy eating habits is paramount. Dietary recommendations for children and adolescents are expressed in two very different, but complementary, formats: dietary guidelines and nutrient intake values. Ideally, each country should develop its own dietary guidelines to ensure that the food- and nutrient-related health concerns of the country are addressed in the context of customary dietary patterns. The chapter then looks at undernutrition, childhood obesity, and some special issues that predominantly relate to adolescents.