[Food habits of today's adolescents: epidemiological and psychosocial aspects]

Adolescence is a period of life often characterized by inconsistent, experimental and risky behaviour. The study of alimentary habits of adolescents is of particular importance since these determine whether nutritional needs will be met. Whereas an epidemiologic approach seeks to determine the number, the role, and the weight of the multiple determinants of these behaviours, a psycho-social approach leads to the consideration of factors much more difficult to quantify. This paper is based on a local pilot study covering 161 male and female apprentices 15 to 21 years of age, as well as on data available from the recent literature. First, a review of common behaviours such as skipping meals, snacking between meals, and concerning food preferences and aversions is presented. We then review in greater depth two recent publications. The first concerns the attraction that soft drinks have for young people and its consequences for micronutrient balance. The second illustrates the relationship between self-body image and various adolescent attitudes and habits involving caloric restriction. Overall, it appears that data currently available to epidemiologists and "preventologists" concerning adolescent feeding behaviour would not allow them either to reassure those pessimists or worry those optimists whose opposing views on the subject appeared in publications prior to the 1980s. Indeed, there have been but few longitudinal studies of the kind which could let one confirm which subgroups of adolescents are truly at risk of particular health problems as a result of specific types of feeding behaviour.