Overweight and Obese Adolescent Girls: The Importance of Promoting Sensible Eating and Activity Behaviors from the Start of the Adolescent Period

Abstract

The adolescent period is associated with changes in eating and activity behaviors in girls. Less reliance on parental provision and choice of food, coupled with a decrease in participation in physical activity and sport, can create an energy imbalance, predisposing to weight gain. Physiological alterations to body composition, reduction in insulin sensitivity, and psychological adjustments may further amplify the risk of becoming overweight and maintaining an unhealthy level of body fat into childbearing years. During pregnancy excess body fat is a risk factor for poor pregnancy outcomes and may predispose an infant to a lifelong heightened risk of being overweight and developing chronic disease. Interventions aimed at preventing the accumulation of body fat in adolescent girls and young women may have far reaching impact and be critically important in reducing intergenerational weight gain. Lifestyle interventions in adolescence have the potential to modify adult obesity risk by switching at-risk individuals from a high to lower obesity risk trajectory. This paper discusses multiple approaches to assist at-risk individuals reduce obesity risk. A key focus is placed on engagement in food preparation and choice, and opportunities for physical activity and sport. Support, education, and opportunity at home and at school, are often associated with the success of lifestyle interventions, and may enable adolescents to make positive choices, and engage in health promoting behaviors during adolescence and childbearing years.

Adolescents as agents of healthful change through scientific literacy development: A school-university partnership program in New Zealand

“…Combined with the significant qualitative evidence from the 6 months post-intervention interview data demonstrating that the observed positive behavior changes were associated with application of evidencebased thinking (Bay et al 2012a), these data indicate that students in the at risk group made and sustained evidence-based decisions in relation to learning associated with the intervention. The high level of communication into the family by students is encouraging as it supports evidence linked to the importance of family engagement in achieving positive adolescent health promotion (Todd et al 2015). In some aspects of the evaluation, we identified small increases in understanding and capability development between 3 and 12 months post-intervention, indicative of ongoing development beyond the intervention period.…”

“…Adolescence, a life stage where cognitive and lifestyle behaviors that track into adulthood are established, (Craigie et al 2011;Steinberg 2005) offers significant opportunity for primary NCD risk prevention for the adolescent and their potential future offspring (Todd et al 2015). Overweight and obesity in adolescence is known to persist into adulthood and impact future health (Alberga et al 2012).…”

Relationships between n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake, serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D, food consumption, and nutritional status among adolescents

“…Given that eating habits may influence current health and also health status lifelong [7,8], adolescence becomes a peculiar period for lifestyle intervention to prevent NCD and avoid body fat accumulation [9,10].…”

Examining Predictors of Breakfast Skipping and Breakfast Program Use Among Secondary School Students in the COMPASS Study

“…Commonly reported motives for breakfast skipping among youth include a lack of time and hunger in the morning . Adolescents have greater autonomy over their food choices and other behaviors than children, which may partially explain why breakfast consumption declines during this transitional period . Eating behaviors generally become more irregular and exploratory during adolescence, and are largely shaped by social influences .…”