![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/00252968-614.jpg\"\/)
\nDr Mary Flynn of the FSAI said there can be ‘huge variation’ in how boys and girls develop during adolescence<\/p>\n
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published dietary guidelines for girls and boys aged nine between 18, the first scientific report to set out specific food-based dietary recommendations for the age group.<\/p>\n
According to the FSAI, nutritional needs during adolescence can vary considerably, depending not only on age and sex, but also on body size, physical activity and the timing of puberty.<\/p>\n
Developed by the FSAI Scientific Committee, the recommendations take account of these differences to provide a scientific basis for supporting healthy growth and development during this stage of life.<\/p>\n
FSAI Chief Specialist in Public Health Nutrition Dr Mary Flynn said the Authority was concerned about the flexibility of dietary guidance for adolescents.<\/p>\n
Speaking on RT\u00c9’s Morning Ireland, Dr Flynn added that adolescence “isn\u2019t just a teenage thing” and can begin at around eight years of age for girls and around 10 for boys.<\/p>\n
“In girls, they transition into a slower period of growth after they menstruate, which is in Ireland about age 12, 13.<\/p>\n
“But they’re growing now. They’re nearly an adult size and the requirements during adolescence are they have the biggest food needs of any human,” Dr Flynn said.<\/p>\n
She added: “It’s a time to protect them against long term diseases.<\/p>\n
“We lay down 40% of our bone mineral content during that 10-year period of adolescence. The sex hormones surge, but that’s very good for bones.<\/p>\n
“In boys, that testosterone kind of builds muscle mass. Their fat stores kind of migrate inside their body. Whereas girls, oestrogen is a fat promoting hormone. So, they grow fat stores on their hips and thighs for the first time, changing body shape.<\/p>\n
“There’s a whole psychological adjustment.”<\/p>\n
\nDr Mary Flynn of the FSAI said there can be ‘huge variation’ in how boys and girls develop during adolescence<\/p>\n
Dr Flynn said there can be “huge variation” in how boys and girls develop during adolescence.<\/p>\n
“We have early developers and late developers. So, the poor boy who’s a late developer won’t be the strongest fella on the rugby team.<\/p>\n
“And you’d love to be able to tell them that there is that variation. So, what we were concerned with is the flexibility we need in dietary guidance.<\/p>\n
“Some teenagers are sedentary. They love the computer, they’re nerdy, and that’s fine. It’s better to be active because that helps build your bone.<\/p>\n
“Some are very active and what we were concerned about looking at their dietary intakes is that they’re fixated on protein.<\/p>\n
“They have low-ish carbohydrate intakes … there’s a wide range of scientists involved in this. You’ll see acknowledgements there to the Irish Sports Institute.<\/p>\n
“But they’re seeing teenagers who, because they’re not eating enough carbohydrates and because they’re very active, and not only do they play sport every week, they have a match at the weekend, they go to the gym on Sunday.<\/p>\n
“There’s no downtime, and they very little carbohydrate [intake] to protect them and they end up with injuries,” Dr Flynn said.<\/p>\n
She added: “It’s the best form of calories for that age group. It’s the fastest.<\/p>\n
“If you’re not eating carbs, you have to go to a big metabolic kind of pathway to get it from the protein foods that they’re fixated on.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published dietary guidelines for girls and boys aged nine between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,111,139,556,69],"class_list":["post-629213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nutrition","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}