PE10.6 | Adolescent Nutrition Problems — Summary & Reflection

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Adolescence is the final critical window for growth, bone mineralisation, and dietary habit formation. Nutritional needs are highest in absolute terms — up to 2640 kcal/day and 21 mg iron/day in adolescent girls. India's most prevalent adolescent nutritional problem is iron-deficiency anaemia (59% of girls, NFHS-5), addressed by the WIFS programme (100 mg elemental iron + 500 μg folic acid weekly). Calcium requirement peaks at 1300 mg/day (9-18 years); vitamin D insufficiency is widespread; folate is a periconceptional priority for girls. Adolescent obesity is rising rapidly in urban India, driven by ultra-processed food and sedentary behaviour, and is the substrate for early metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes, and NAFLD. BMI-for-age (not adult BMI) is the correct adiposity index; obesity = BMI-for-age ≥ +2 SD (WHO). Eating disorders (anorexia nervosa: low weight + body dysmorphia; bulimia nervosa: binge-purge cycles) carry serious medical complications including cardiac arrhythmia, electrolyte disturbance, and osteoporosis. Practical screening at every adolescent encounter — anthropometry + Hb + brief dietary history — allows early identification and targeted counselling.

REFLECT

Think about the adolescents in your community — your younger siblings, neighbours, or the patients you see in the wards. How many of them regularly consume iron-rich foods? How many have access to milk or calcium-rich foods? How many spend >4 hours daily on screens? How many would benefit from WIFS but are not enrolled because they are out-of-school? Reflect on the structural determinants of adolescent malnutrition in India — poverty, gender inequality, food advertising, school food environments — and consider what changes at the community or policy level would have more impact than one-on-one counselling.