Diets in adolescents, a high-risk practice
To reach the false goal of look attractive Many teenagers fall into diets networks that are advertised as "miraculous" on the internet. A message that together with the one of "thinness = attractiveness" makes the young people begin in the practice of a risk activity as it is to enter a process of weight loss that has not been advised by a specialist.
Fashion diets
From the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition, SEEN, warns about the proliferation of 'fashionable' diets and its health risks. According to this organism, obesity and overweight are two problems that must be treated by a specialist that provides adequate dietary guidelines and a lifestyle that helps maintain an idea weight. In short, someone who teaches these patients to eat and to abandon a sedentary life.
However, many teenagers seek quick and miraculous solutions. And they use this claim to promote many of these subsistence allowance They sell a practice that can be very dangerous. In the first place because it must be a specialist who diagnoses the overweight and decides if it is necessary to initiate or not some treatment.
Secondly, because not all diets are for everyone. Most of these practices start from the elimination of a habitual food in the menu, a product whose absence can cause a problem in the adolescent's organism. In other cases, these "nutritional recommendations"They suggest to those who follow them to take a single dish, a dangerous activity since a meal must be composed of a wide variety of elements.
Risks of the exclusion diets
As already mentioned, some of these diets opt for the exclusion of one or several foods on the menu. This may involve the appearance of different pathologies like the following:
- Migraine, Headache, Insomnia, Enuresis.
- Hyperactivity / attention deficit, Autism, Memory loss.
- Depression, Anxiety.
- Asthma, Sinusitis.
- Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity.
- Irritable bowel syndrome, Inflammatory bowel disease.
- Psoriasis, Urticaria, Candidiasis, Acne, Fibromyalgia, - Chronic fatigue syndrome.
What are the "fad diets"
From the SEEN they recommend parents to look at the behavior of their children in the table. Some ways of acting can give clues about what kind of diet are being followed by adolescents. In particular, it is recommended to address these three cases:
- 'Picturesque' diets. Those who do not follow any scientific theory, simply and try to convince of the ease to carry them out and their effectiveness. For example, the diet of soup, artichoke, lemon etc.
- 'Special' diets. They do not follow the usual recommendations of a balanced hypocaloric diet.
- 'Pseudoscientific' diets. They pretend to be based on scientific foundations, even though their efficacy or safety is not proven. For example, the Dukan diet or the dissociated diet.
Damián Montero
