Whether you are eating less, fasting, dieting, or cutting out inflammatory foods altogether, it is likely that you, along with the rest of the population, have become hyperconscious of what you eat.
The explosion of self-help books, television shows, and products offering healthy food alternatives have become hard to ignore in a culture increasingly focused on wellness and self-improvement. However, a new study linking our dietary habits as teenagers to our long-term health may provide us with the valuable insights we need to assess the current state of our health, eating habits and diet.
For example, in the UK, 66% of a teenager’s daily energy intake comes from ultra-processed food (UPF), which means most teenagers do not get the right amount of nutrients in their diet. This raises critical questions about how early dietary choices shape lifelong health. From increased risks of obesity and chronic diseases to the impact on mental well-being, the consequences of adolescent eating habits may be more profound than we realize.
Understanding this connection could help reshape how we approach nutrition education and food accessibility for younger generations, which is precisely the subject that Neuroscientist Dr Fabien Naneix from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute, has been awarded almost £550K to study.
Dr Fabien Naneix was awarded a New Investigator grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to carry out the three-year project. He said: “We know that eating too much tasty but often high-calorie foods can lead to obesity or Type 2 diabetes and, worryingly, the number of overweight or obese teens is rising. As their bodies and brains are still developing, it is likely that teens are more vulnerable to developing unbalanced dietary habits which may wreak havoc on their long-term health if they eat junk food through those years of development.”
“I want to understand how the overconsumption of sugar or fat during adolescence impacts food choices later in life. As part of that, I want to look at how it impacts choices between balanced or unbalanced foods, sensitivity to food stimuli, and the related brain functioning. We want to show whether there is a correlation between poor adolescent diet and long-term poor diet choices.”
While it’s widely understood that excessive consumption of unhealthy, highly processed foods increases the risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, the rising rates of overweight teens suggest a more complex issue at play. The teenage brain, still in a critical stage of development, is particularly vulnerable to forming long-lasting habits. This means that poor eating patterns established during adolescence are more likely to persist into adulthood, potentially locking individuals into cycles of unhealthy behaviour that are difficult to break.
Dr Naneix thinks dopamine could have a role in forming these dietary habits so young. He said, “My work will especially focus on a part of the brain called the ‘brain’s reward system’ and its central neurotransmitter (chemicals that allow neurons to communicate with each other); dopamine.”
It has previously been shown that the dopamine circuit does not mature before adulthood, which means that younger brains are more vulnerable to food that will provide them pleasure, for example fast food and sugary food. This explains why there is a tendency for teenagers to overconsume fat or sugar, and Dr Naneix is interested to see whether there is a correlation between poor adolescent diet and long-term poor diet choices.
The project entitled ‘Adolescent sugar overconsumption programs food choices via altered dopamine signalling,’ will be ongoing until 2027.
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