Nutrition in Schools Advisory Service

Children and adolescents need sufficient nutritious foods to grow and develop normally.

Gaining weight and increasing body size are desirable and necessary throughout childhood and adolescence. Too much or too little nutrients can alter physical growth.

It needs to be understood that children grow and develop at different rates. The best way to assess adequate growth is to use growth charts which give a range of expected norms.

Body Mass Index in not an appropriate tool to assess growth for children under 18 years of age.

Skin fold can be used as an assessment of fatness but unless used by a trained operator measurements are generally unreliable.

Overweight children have increased in numbers during the past two decades  (Click here for more information)

Underweight failure to thrive children (Click here for more information)

Anorexia and Bulimia are two conditions concerning our teenagers (Click here for more information)

Pregnant Teenagers have special nutritional considerations (Click here for more information)