Nutrition Of The Grown
Nutritional
Needs of the Adolescent and Adult
By Mary
Howard RN
Recently my
articles have focused on weight loss. In this article, I
would like to
clarify the nutritional needs of the growing adolescent
and the adult.
In some of my past articles we covered the
nutritional
requirements of pregnancy and childhood we'll make
this article
expand from there and talk about the nutritional
requirements
of adolescents, adults and elderly. There are many
of you that
suffer health conditions that debilitate your body and
pull hard on
your energy stores.
Adolescence is a time of major growth for young
people
and so it's
also a time of amazing nutritional needs.
Adolescents do
20% to 25% of their growth in 24 to 36
months on
average. The statistics of growth just amaze me.
Girls usually
start their growth spurt between 8 and 14 years
of age and are
usually finished growing within 3 years.
On average, a
girl will grow 2 to 8 inches and gain
15 to 55
pounds.
Boys on
average begin their growth spurt about 10 to 16
years of age.
During this time they grow 4 to 12 inches and
gain 15 to 65
pounds. For boys, this usually ceases at
18 to 20 years
of age.
Adolescent
energy needs for boys are 2500 to 3000 calories
per day.
Protein requirements are 46 to 59 grams per day.
Girls energy
needs are about 2200 calories per day and
protein
requirements are 44 to 46 grams per day. The need
for vitamins
and minerals are also very high during adolescence.
Young
adulthood - skeletal growth is usually completed
by about age
25, but height may increase another 1/4 to 1/2 inch
by age 30. Age
30 is usually peak muscular strength and
endurance.
At around age
30 is when your life-style, heredity,
nutritional
habits, and gender have the largest impact on your
weight and
general well being for the rest of your life.
Young adult
calorie needs on average for women are
1900 calories
and for men are 2200 calories a day. Protein
requirements
from here on out are basically the same for all ages.
About 0.8
grams/kilogram of body weight. [Divide your weight
in pounds by
2.5 to get Kilograms of body weight]. Athletes or
those in a
strength building program need higher protein
requirements -
at least 1.0 g/kg of body weight/day.
Example:
Weight: 130
lbs = 52 kilograms
0.8 x 52 =
approximately 42 grams of protein needed per day
Nutrition of the aging and aged adult varies widely
based on
health and
diseases they have weathered in their younger years.
During middle
and older adulthood, there is a gradual cell loss
and decrease
in metabolism. With that comes a gradual decrease
in performance
of most body systems. These changes are both
physical and
mental and may occur quickly in one organ system
and slowly in
another. Each of us varies widely in the rate and
order that
this deterioration takes place.
In general,
lean body mass loss gradually accelerates as we age.
For example by
age 70 the kidneys and lungs lose about 10% of
their weight
and the liver loses about 18% of its weight. The
skeletal
muscles may decrease by as much as 40%. We also
don't have the
reserve capacity that we used to.
As we age, we
also have factors that change our food patterns.
For example we
have a decrease in digestive juices, a decreased
ability to
absorb nutrients and a decreased sense of smell and
taste. For
these reasons the foods consumed need to have flavor
and nutrition.
We still have the same nutrient requirement as the
young adult
but most generally we have a decreased over-all
energy need.
An interesting
finding is that nutrition even plays a role in mental
alertness as
you age. A balance of protein, vitamins and minerals
is very
important. One of the best ways to better get the nutrients
you need is to
continue to eat a large variety of foods. It is easy
as we age to
fall in a rut of eating the same foods all the time but
"variety"
really IS "the spice of life".
One
interesting factor I notice while researching for this
article
is that
WATER is so, so important no matter what age you are.
It is
important for cell growth, hydration, and cleansing. In this
same vein, it
is also important to NOT overload your body with
stuff it
doesn't need or know what to do with like smoking,
alcohol use,
unnecessary drugs or medications, concentrated
sweets and
processed food chemicals.
It all comes
back to "we are what we eat" and "everything in
moderation."
With this philosophy we can age more gracefully
and with less
pain. There are many disease processes that you
cannot
control, but by fortifying your body with nutritious food
the best you
know how will give you the ammunition to fight
the fight the
best you can.
References for
this article taken from:
1."Essentials
of Nutrition and Diet Therapy"
By Sue Rodwell
Williams, Ph.D., MPH, RD.
2. "Nursing
Care of Infants and Children"
By Lucille F.
Whaley RN, Ed.D, and
Donna L. Wong,
RN., MN., PNP., CPN.
3. "Principles
and Practice of Adult Health Nursing"
By Patricia
Gauntlett Beare, RN, PhD and
Judith L.
Myers, RN, MSN
The
NutriCounter
is a great tool for keeping track of and counting grams of
Protein and carbohydrates eaten each day.
