IMPORTANCE OF DIET AND DIETARY INFLUENCES ON HEALTH EFFECTS IN SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS: A SERIOUS AND GROWING GLOBAL PROBLEM

Abstract

To develop to their optimal potential, it is vital that children are provided with nutritionally sound diets. Diet and exercise patterns during childhood and adolescence may spell the difference between health and risk of disease in later years.Everyone agrees that adequate nutrient intake is important to all living things. Without food or water, life on earth would cease to exist. In the field of medical health, some gains have been made in meeting maternal and child nutritional needs. There is great community awareness regarding the importance of meeting the nutritional needs of the developing foetus, child and adults. Behavioural problems such as hyperactivity, learning disabilities, mental illness, aggressive and antisocial behaviour, and juvenile delinquency have been purportedly linked to the potential influence of foods or nutrients. Subtle differences in behaviour can occur with physiologic variation in food intake. Components of foods can also be used as drugs. Starvation can impair neuronal maturation and can have lasting effects upon behaviour and intellectual performance. The extent of starvation's impact upon the brain depends upon whether under nutrition occurred during a critical phase in brain development. Short-term fasting has small, but significant, effects upon intellectual performance. Tryptophan, tyrosine, and choline in the diet are used as precursors for neuronal synthesis of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, and acetylcholine, respectively. It is likely that the brain's sensitivity to certain components of the diet exists to permit monitoring of food intake by the central nervous system. Tryptophan, tyrosine, and choline may be useful in treatment of humans with sleep disorders, pain depression, mania, hypertension, shock, or dyskinesia. Food additives may exacerbate hyperactive symptoms in a small proportion of children with attention deficit disorder. This review mainly attempts to describe the intake food should provide the basis for effective food and nutritional surveillance strategies along with promote healthy eating habits.