Boarding Schools for Girls

A study of teenage girls in Great Britain found that 46 percent did not get the minimum daily requirements for nutrition, and only one in 10 consumed the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables daily.

The study also found that most teen girls did not eat enough food, and when they did, they consumed mostly sodas, sweets, and chocolate.

The study, from the National Center for Social Research, collected data from more 1,000 people who kept food diaries.

Labels: teenagers, nutrition

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Many people turn to junk food when theyre feeling anxious or sad -- a familiar practice for many women and teen girls . But a new study out of Australia has found that unhealthy food could increase  not decrease  feelings of anxiety and depression in women.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne found that mood disorders were more common among women aged 20 to 93 who, over 10 years, ate primarily processed, refined, high-fat foods. &

When they assessed how diet might relate to mood disorders, they found that a "Western" diet  eating primarily hamburgers, white bread, pizza, chips, flavored milk drinks, beer, and sugar-laden foods  was associated with a 50 percent greater likelihood for depressive disorders. (Source: Reuters)

The team reviewed diet and mental health information for over 1,000 women, and found that 121 had depressive and/or anxiety disorders. High instances of depression and anxiety were consistent even when the study results were adjusted for factors such as age, weight, social and economic status and physical activity.

Labels: nutrition, mental health, depression, junk-food

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The Iowa state public school system plans to crack down on junk food sold in schools. New rules for 2009 eliminate sodas, French fries, fried foods, and low-nutrient, high-calorie snacks in cafeterias. As for vending machine offerings, beverages must have a nutritional value and snacks cannot have more than 200 calories.

Many school food service directors worry about a drop in sales if students decide to leave campuses to go to restaurants for lunch.

Fruits and vegetables just do not sell well, according to Ann Feilmann, food supervisor for Marshalltown schools. "If it's an open campus," she said, "we're going to become a less interesting place to shop for lunch and they'll leave."

Labels: public-schools, nutrition, junk-food

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Girls who are allowed to drink soda at age 5 become teenagers who have unhealthy diets, according to a new study from Pennsylvania State University.

• Dr. Laura Fiorito and her colleagues followed 170 girls for ten years.
• Those who were allowed to have soda at age five showed much lower intake of fiber protein, vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium magnesium, phosphorus and potassium throughout the ten-year study than those not allowed to have soda at age five.
• All the girls in the study had inadequate levels of recommended nutrients as teenagers.
• By age 15, nearly all were drinking soda, although the "early soda drinkers" were drinking twice as much.

"We think that the patterns develop when they are younger," Dr. Fiorito said. "Some studies show that children are already drinking soda or carbonated beverages by age two."

The study appears in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
 

Labels: teenagers, nutrition, children

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