Richard Rooney M.D, on Diet, Nutrition, Growth & Development

Throughout their childhood and teen years, your children rely on a number of factors to ensure they grow up healthy and strong. While physical activity and environmental factors do play a part in this process, many parents don't realize the importance that food plays in physical and emotional development.

Physical Maturation
We know that children that overeat and regularly consume unhealthy foods are more prone to obesity than children who eat healthier diets, but recent studies suggest the opposite may be just as true. Infants who were undernourished in their first months of life developed slower than the infants on healthier diets. That deficiency followed them as they matured, leading to the undernourished infants growing into smaller and weaker children. This held true even when those children are more nutritiously fed later in their development.

Learning and Intelligence
According to a study published in a 2010 edition of The Journal of Nutrition, children who were undernourished before the age of two were less likely to succeed in school. It was more common for these children to start school later and to fail one or more grades in school. Poor nutrition in children has also been linked to inhibited mental capacity, which could affect the individual's ability to maximize their earning capacity as adults.

Bone Development
Helping our bones stay strong and healthy throughout life begins in our teens, yet the vast majority of teenagers don't get nearly enough calcium. The problem is especially common among teen girls with two-thirds of them failing to meet their daily recommended calcium intake. A calcium deficiency that isn't corrected can lead to brittle and weak bones later in life. Osteoporosis is especially common in women who have had a long-lasting calcium deficiency.

Psychological and Emotional Development
We're only beginning to understand how the foods we eat affect mental health, but we have learned enough to know that there is a link. Particularly, unhealthy diets can increase the risks of developing depression, anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. To decrease these risks, children should be taught to eat nutritiously and to avoid foods that have added refined sugar and unhealthy fats.

As this brief overview implies, the foods your children eat will affect many aspects of their overall health. Either for better or worse, your child's diet can determine how well their physical bodies develop, and how mentally fit they are as they mature into adults. This suggests that placing more emphasis on nutrition may be one of the most important things you can do as a parent.

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This article was originally published on richardrooneymd.org

About the Author

Richard Rooney M.D. is a board certified orthopaedic spine surgeon who works in Seattle, Washington at his own private practice. He resides in Seattle, WA with his wife and two sons. Throughout his career, Richard Rooney M.D. has distinguished himself as a renowned orthopaedic surgeon. He truly loves the immersive nature of his work and the fact that he's able to help people live better, less painful lives. Through his practice, Seattle Spine Group, Richard focuses on treatment for back pain, neck pain, radiculopathy, and sciatica. They recently introduced an entire spectrum of spine care and stem cell therapy care with a focus on disk replacement.
When Richard Rooney M.D. isn't busy at work as a spine surgeon, he likes to spend his time outdoors with his wife and sons, enjoying all the natural and manmade beauty that his home state of Washington has to offer.

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