Teens need healthy brain food, says Stanford expert

This week, U.S. News and World Report released their 2016 ranking of the best diets. For their story on healthy eating for teenagers, Neville Golden, MD, division chief of adolescent medicine at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, explained how diet can affect teens’ brains and moods:

Teens are faced with myriad physical changes and academic demands, all while being bombarded by what their peers are doing – from what not to wear, to what to say and when to say it, to how to get the attention of you know who. And in the midst of all this, the body’s most critical organ – the brain –is still developing, says Dr. Neville Golden, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Nutrition…

 

“If [teens] don’t eat right, they can become irritable, depressed [and] develop problems such as obesity and eating disorders – and those have a whole host of psychological morbidities,” Golden says, adding that proper nutrition can help prevent and manage these conditions.

The rest of the story provides lots of specifics on how teens can improve their diets, including a sample menu for a day of healthy eating. If you know a teen who has made a nutritious New Year’s resolution, it’s definitely worth sharing.

Via Scope

Photo by Nestlé