Abstract

Hungry? Should you eat an apple or potato chips? Does it really matter? It turns out that what you eat as a child and adolescent affects your growth and development. It can also affect your health as an adult! We wanted to understand the link between nutrition and adolescent growth. We did a review of different scientific studies to see what is currently known about this. We found that not eating enough food, eating the wrong foods, and eating too much food all affect the body’s systems. But the effects are different in each case. We also learned that the negative effects of poor nutrition aren’t permanent if they’re corrected at the right time.