SYNTHESIS TODDLER

The subject represents some toxicity in her nutrient intake.

As for energy, observation showed that in malnourished children the diet is
often lacking in calories and not protein. Lack of calories in the diet may
leads to utilization of protein as source of energy, which results in protein
energy malnutrition or PEM or extreme wasting called marasmus. If calories
are adequate but protein intake is inadequate, this will result in a condition
called kwashiorkor.
As said above, if protein is inadequate it will result to a condition called
kwashiorkor but when there is an excessive intake of protein, it will yield
additional calories and can be stored as body fat that is not recommended
unless needed by the subject. Our body is unable to store excess protein.
For vitamins and minerals, it is necessary for normal growth and
development. Insufficient intake can cause impaired growth, and will result in
some deficiency diseases like in Vitamin A, C, riboflavin and thiamin that is
commonly lacking in the toddler stage of life.
As a child grows larger, so does the demand for vitamins and minerals. On a
pound-for-pound basis, a 5-year-olds need for, say, vitamin A is about double
the need of an adult man. A balanced diet of nutritious foods can meet
childrens needs for most nutrients, with the exceptions of specific
recommendations for fluoride, vitamin D, and iron.
According to the DRI committee, childrens intakes of vitamin D fortified
milk, ready-to-eat cereals, fortified juices, and other fortified foods should
provide 15 micrograms of vitamin D each day to maximize their absorption
of calcium and ensure normal, healthy bone growth. Many millions of U.S.
children have intakes below this amount. Children who do not consume
enough vitamin D from fortified foods should receive a vitamin D supplement
to make up the shortfall.
As for iron, iron deficiency is a major problem worldwide and is prevalent in
toddlers 1 to 3 years of age. During the second year of life, toddlers progress
from a diet of iron-rich infant foods such as breast milk, iron-fortified formula,
and iron fortified infant cereal to a diet of adult foods and iron-poor cows
milk. Their stores of iron from birth are exhausted, but their rapid growth
demands new red blood cells to fill a larger volume of blood. Compounding
the problem is the variability in toddlers appetites: sometimes 2-year-olds
are finicky, sometimes they eat voraciously, and they may go through
periods of preferring milk and juice while rejecting solid foods for a time. All

of these factorsswitching to whole milk and unfortified foods, diminished

iron stores, and unreliable food consumptionmake iron deficiency likely at a
time when iron is critically needed for normal brain growth and development.
A later section comes back to iron deficiency and its consequences to the
brain. To prevent iron deficiency, childrens foods must deliver 7 to 10
milligrams of iron per day. To achieve this goal, snacks and meals should
include iron-rich foods. Milk intake, though critical for the calcium needed for
dense, healthy bones, should not exceed daily recommendations to avoid the
displacing of lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, legumes, and whole-grain or
enriched grain products from the diet.
Also, Iodine-deficiency Disorders is also a common nutrition problem among
toddlers. This refer to a group of clinical entities caused by inadequacy of
dietary iodine that includes goiter, hot or cold intolerance, mental
retardation, deaf-mutism, difficulty on standing and walking normally, and
stunting of the limbs of children of goitrous mothers.
SYNTHESIS ADOLESCENCE
The subject embodies different deficiencies in her nutrient intakes.
The energy needs of adolescents vary tremendously depending on growth
rate, gender, body composition, and physical activity. An active, growing
body of 15 may need 3,500 calories or more a day just to maintain his
weight, but an inactive girl of the same age whose growth has slowed may
need fewer than 1,800 calories to avoid unneeded weight gain. She may
benefit from choosing more low-calorie fruit, vegetables, fat-free milk, whole
grains, and other nutritious foods with limited cookies, cakes, soft drinks,
fried snacks, and other treats. Extra physical activity throughout the day can
help to balance the energy budget, as well.
Weight standards meant for adults are useless for adolescents. Physicians
use growth charts to track their gains in height and weight, and parents
should watch only for smooth progress and guard against comparisons that
can diminish the childs self-image.
Girls normally develop a somewhat higher percentage of body fat than boys
do, a fact that causes much needless worry about becoming overweight.
Teens face tremendous pressures regarding body image, and many readily
believe scams that promise slenderness or good-looking muscles through
dietary supplements. Healthy, normal-weight teenagers are often on
diets and make all sorts of unhealthy weight loss attemptseven taking up
smoking. A few teens without diagnosable eating disorders have been
reported to diet so severely that they stunted their own growth.

The increase in need for iron during adolescence occurs across the genders,
but for different reasons. A boy needs more iron at this time to develop extra
lean body mass, whereas a girl needs extra not only to gain lean body mass
but also to support menstruation. Because menstruation continues
throughout a womans childbearing years, her need stays high until older
age. As boys become men, their iron needs drop back to the preadolescent
value during early adulthood. An interesting detail about adolescent iron
requirements is that the need increases during the growth spurt, regardless
of the age of the adolescent.
Iron intakes often fail to keep pace with increasing needs, especially for girls,
who typically consume less iron-rich foods such as meat and fewer total
calories than boys. Not surprisingly, iron deficiency is most prevalent among
adolescent girls. Adolescent girls and boys who live with food insecurity
that is, they miss meals, eat less expensive, less nutritious foods, or other
food-related compromises of povertyhave a threefold greater likelihood of
iron deficiency compared with food-secure children .
Adolescence is a crucial time for bone development. The bones are growing
longer at a rapid rate thanks to a special bone structure, the epiphyseal
plate, which disappears as a teenager reaches adult height. At the same
time, the bones are gaining density, laying down the calcium needed later in
life. Calcium intakes must be high to support the development of peak bone
mass.
Low calcium intakes have reached crisis proportions: 85 percent of females
and 70 percent of males ages 9 to 18 years have calcium intakes below
recommendations. Paired with a lack of physical activity, low calcium intakes
can compromise the development of peak bone mass, greatly increasing the
risk of osteoporosis and other bone diseases later on.
Teens often choose soft drinks as their primary beverage. Particularly among
girls, this choice displaces calcium-rich milk from the diet and prevents
bones from reaching their full attainable density. Conversely, increasing milk
consumption to meet calcium recommendations greatly increases bone
density.
Bones also grow stronger with physical activity, but few high schools require
students to attend physical activity classes, so most teenagers must make a
point to be physically active during leisure hours. Attainment of maximal
bone mass during youth and adolescence is the best protection against agerelated bone loss and fractures in later life.
Vitamin D is also essential for calcium absorption and proper bone growth
and development of bone density. Adolescents who do not receive 15 g of
vitamin D from vitamin Dfortified milk (2.9 g per cup of fat-free milk) and

other vitamin Dfortified foods each day should take vitamin D in a

supplement.