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Myth:
If an adolescent girl becomes pregnant, she should slightly
increase her nutritional and caloric intake because of the
developing fetus.
Truth:
This myth is true in classification, but way off in degree.
Yes, the intake should be increased, but not slightly. The intake
should be increased enourmously. A developing fetus requires a
suprising amount of nutrition. Combine that with a developing
adolescent female during puberty, and the girl will have to eat a
lot of food. A good rule of thumb is to add the recommended
dietary allowances for a pregnant adult woman to those for 15-to-
18-year-old girls. This should cover the required nutrition. As you
can see, this amount of intake may be more than you expected. We
didn't add the RDA of a 15-to-18-year-old-girl to the RDA of a
baby, we added the RDA of an adult woman to the RDA of a 15-to-18-
year-old-girl. That's a lot of calories, and it may make the girl
overweight. Oh well, pregnancy is no time to be concerned about
your appearance.
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Exercises
