ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that promotion of healthy dietary habits is of specific importance during childhood and adolescence. It introduces a six-step planning framework that helps to approach healthy diet promotion in childhood and adolescence in a systematic way. The chapter focuses on school-aged children and adolescents, with special attention on the critical period of ten to fourteen years, when most children have their pubertal growth spurt, become adolescents and gain more food choice autonomy. The chapter uses this planning model to describe in some detail what the main issues are in childhood and adolescent nutrition, and in more detail what we know about important determinants of nutrition behaviours in children and adolescents. Nutrition plays a key role in this, and children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable if their dietary requirements are not met. Studies in children and adolescents show that food- and nutrition-related self-efficacy is associated with healthy food choices and dietary behavior.
