You think the Twos and Threes are tough. Then you have to deal with them going to school. But later, you find there’s nothing worse than trying to support a lovesick or moody teen. But science has an answer: Eating better could make teens happier AND healthier!
Researchers at Swansea University (SU) (UK) wanted to find out how diet affects the mental health of teenagers. The teens are a critical period for the development of an emerging adult’s brain. At the same time, young adults are trying to cope with increasingly stressful lives, including adult relation-ships, which are very different from what they were used to as children.
That’s a simplified but on-course explanation of why so many teenagers suffer psychological distress.
What they did
“The authors emphasize that adolescence is a key stage for brain development and emotional health,” an abstract of the study report explains. “This period offers an important window for pre-vention and early support. Diet stands out as a factor that can be changed and scaled across popu-lations since it is part of everyday life.”
The Swansea team analyzed data from 19 studies that explored links between diet and mental health in adolescents. Their findings were broad, and in some cases, discordant.
In many cases, reports of the effects of various dietary supplements on the teen psyche were mark-edly different from study to study. And their ‘soft’ findings revealed that diet may have different effects on young adults depending on their sex, socioeconomic status and associated ‘environ-mental’ factors.
What they found
Overall, healthier eating patterns were commonly associated with fewer symptoms of depression. In contrast, lower-quality diets were more often linked to higher levels of psychological distress.
The takeaway
Corresponding author Professor Hayley Young of Swansea University’s School of Psychology, said: “Overall, our findings suggest that public health and clinical strategies should prioritize whole-diet approaches over isolated supplementation when considering adolescent mental health. However, further high-quality research is needed to determine which dietary patterns are most effective and for whom.”
And detailed findings, in the realm of specific foods or supplements which might help moody teens, are still off in the future.
My take
Here we go again, folks… My legendary advice, to follow the common sense road, is vindicated once again!
But in a world where more than 75 percent of products on supermarket shelves are Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFS), it’s more than just difficult to make sure teenagers are getting a healthy, balanced diet. They’re ‘on their own’ too much of the time for parents to exert meaningful influences. Much less, controls.
The key, as I see it, is to start ’em young on the importance of a healthy diet, which includes a variety of foods. And to encourage them not to jump on the UPF bandwagon. That way lies obesity, diabetes, multiple metabolism issues. And ultimately, cancer, heart disease and even premature death. All of which are entirely avoidable. Especially if kids adopt a healthy attitude and approach to food in childhood – and their teens…
~ Maggie J.