Unhealthy Eating and Other Risk‐taking Behavior: Are They Related?

The health status of adolescents gives rise to serious concern. In the short term, rates of teenage suicide and involvement in violence are at an all-time high.' Adolescent smoking rates, which have been declining over the past several years, are on the increase2 and the prevalence of eating disorders in youth is in~reasing.~ The rates of unprotected sexual activity, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted disease put our youth at risk.4 Furthermore, socially acceptable risk-taking behaviors put youth at risk for future health problems. Levels of physical activity are dropping and do not meet national recommended level^.^ The National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) I11 indicates that 1 1% of our nation's youth are considered severely overweight6 Nutritionally, their diets are above national recommendations for total fat, saturated fat, and sodium intake and lower than recommended for consumption of fruits, vegetables, and dietary While some of the high-risk behaviors of youth (suicide, violence, unprotected sexual activity) can have serious consequences for youth and society in general, the more socially acceptable, normative health behaviors such as eating a high fat diet and being sedentary also have tremendous potential for causing long-term, far-reaching, and very expensive problems for our society as this cohort of youth move into adulthood. If our youth continue to eat diets high in fat, saturated fat, and sodium and remain sedentary, the downward trend in cardiovascular disease can be expected to reverse direction. If our youth continue to eat diets low in fruit, vegetables, and dietary fiber, cancer rates are likely to increase. Each year, over half a million deaths and healthcare costs of over 100 billion dollars are attributed to heart disease and Nearly one-third of the occurrence of these chronic diseases is attributed to behavioral choice^.^ Research indicates that health behaviors track from adolescence into adulthood, l 2 indicating that behavioral choices remain fairly stable throughout adolescence. Poor health habits learned, practiced, and solidified in youth can only exacerbate the problems of chronic disease for future generations.