For this reason, it's best to get fiber from foods rather than from the fiber supplements you can purchase in a store. Drinking them risks good health and can cause other serious problems for teens. And although it is illegal for teens to buy alcoholic beverages, a 1991 survey conducted by the Department of Health Human Services shows that over half of 10.7 million junior and senior high school students have had at least one drink within the past year. Teens who drink risk impaired judgment in their social relationships and endanger their own and others' lives if they drive after drinking. Almost half of all traffic accidents involving this age group, whether or not someone died, were alcohol-related.
Alcoholic beverages contain calories but few if any nutrients.
Drinking heavily can lead to poor nutrition if alcoholic beverages replace foods with needed nutrients, and alcoholism is not unknown among teenagers. There are many types of vegetarian diets, but the two most common are the lacto-ovo, which includes eggs and milk products but not meat, and vegan, which eliminates all forms of animal products. Teens who are lacto-ovo vegetarians can usually get enough nutrients in their diets with the possible exception of iron, says Marilyn Stephenson, a dietitian with the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Nutrition and Food Sciences. Getting enough iron is especially important to teens. The need for iron for both boys and girls increase between the ages of 11 and 18.