ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the nutritional needs of the female adolescent and some ways in which they may be met. It reviews the special needs of the adolescent athlete and the pregnant teenager. Adolescent athletes require added nutrient intake for optimal performance. And, if pregnancy occurs, it imposes severe nutritional demands on the adolescent which must be met to prevent low birthweight infants. Growth rate in adolescence is related to the stage of sexual maturation and not to chronological age. This means that the most convenient way to assess the nutritional requirements of an adolescent is to judge where she is along the maturational curve at any given time using Tanners classification of maturity. Because of their rapid growth and development, adolescents require special nutritional consideration. Athletic participation and pregnancy may add further physiological stress and females are particularly vulnerable to problems of obesity and anorexia.
