Nutrition Program

The Teen Health Centre provides nutrition services to teenagers between the ages of 12-24 years old. Individual nutrition counseling with a dietitian is available. Various nutrition related issues include: weight management, eating disorders, sports nutrition, and prenatal nutrition. Nutrition services are provided in Windsor and at the Leamington satellite office. Health promotion workshops, prenatal nutrition classes, co-op nutrition cooking classes, and clinical visits are other nutrition services provided.

There are a number of interesting web sites for teenagers interested in nutrition related information. They include: www.dietitians.ca, www.bana.ca, and www.cspinet.org.

Did you know that:

• Only one in five children consumes the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. French fries account for nearly a quarter of all the vegetables kids eat (Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 150:81, 1996).
• Too little iron can impair memory and learning in adolescent girls. Iron deficiency is less common in boys. Too much iron may raise the risk of cancer and heart disease.
• The current Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for vitamin-C is 60mg, but some vitamin-C experts think that intakes should be at least 100-200 mg/day. If teens eat the recommended 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, then you would be getting at least 200 mg. Some experts argue that no more than 1 g of vitamin-C per day should be taken since more than that may raise the risk of kidney stones.