Question by marc: Is a healthy diet more important when you are young or when you are old?
Are there any reliable studies on this issue? On the one hand, I can see how a healthy diet when you are young might set in motion some long term positvie health benefits. On the other hand, it may be the case that children’s bodies are so efficient at squeezing the nutrition out of the foods that they eat that a child’s poor diet may not have the detrimental effects that an older person’s poor diet would. My 8 year old son’s diet is very limited, yet surprisingly, at least to me, he acts and looks very physically healthy.
Best answer:
Answer by triteamdan
I think it is most important in the long years in between.
Add your own answer in the comments!
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Brown'n says:
December 12, 2012 at 3:53 am (UTC 0)
A healthy diet is important throughout your life. What you do and eat when you’re younger, may affect you later on in your 30’s, 40’s, etc. Many people and youngsters may look and feel very healthy however, it may not mean they are.
Beth B says:
December 12, 2012 at 4:25 am (UTC 0)
Both – it’s important at every stage of your life. When you’re young and your body is still growing, it’s very important to have all the right nutrients for building bones, teeth, muscles, organs, etc., as well as providing energy. It’s true also that reinforcing healthy food choices for a child will set a pattern which he will probably follow throughout his life, and this is further protection for his health.
Recent studies are showing more and more how important good nutrition is as we’re aging, though. Some conditions thought to be unavoidable or irreversible as a result of aging have responded well to a healthy diet. Conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes have shown greatly reduced symptoms in studies of adults with these health problems after they were put on diets with specific foods in them. We know now, too, that a number of fruits & vegetables have strong anti-oxidant properties, preventing a number of cancers and slowing or stopping the spread of cancer in people who have the disease.
A healthy diet strengthens our immune systems and cleanses toxins from our bodies, helping us fight off disease and helping our whole bodies function better. This is true from infancy to old age. I had heard from a pediatrician that if a child goes through a period of being picky or eating very few foods, it’s not cause for concern. I’ve watched my 6 and 8 year-old sons go through phases of not eating certain foods, and I’ve seen them slowly come around to eating those foods they used to refuse. The best thing to do is to keep offering your son a healthy variety, and show by your example to do the same; these will have an influence on what he eats.
As far as sources for studies on diet and health, I’ve seen numerous articles in the last few years in medical, health, and nutrition magazines reporting studies about nutrients in foods and their individual properties. You could go to the library and go back through a year of issues from a particular publication and easily find several articles on the subject. A good one with reliable sources and reports on these studies is Prevention magazine; I read this one myself.
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December 12, 2012 at 4:34 am (UTC 0)
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